It was with great sadness that VCCCDRA learned of the passing of William H. Lawson, Bill to colleagues and friends in the district, on July 15, 2020. Bill was a member of the 1967 founding administration at Moorpark College, hired as an Assistant Dean of Instruction, Vocational-Technical and Evening. He served district students in his role at the district office as Assistant Chancellor of the Ventura County Community College, and then at Oxnard College as Dean of Vocation Education, Economic Development, Continuing Education, Disabled Students and Special Projects Administrator, until he retired in 1995. Part of his responsibilities at each of the three locations was grant writing and in that capacity brought in thousands of dollars to support students and programs in technical fields.
To view his obituary, published in the Ventura County Star on July 22, 2020, use this link. There is no information on a memorial service.
The following is the content of an email received by Rene Rodriguez from Lester Tong and posted here with Lester’s permission.
Rene,
This afternoon (July 17, 2020), 3:00pm till 5:00pm, I attended the “CalPERS Health Plans – Informational Zoom Meeting” (along with 218 others) presented by Katy Lyon. I found it to be very helpful but with a lot of distractive questions from the audience. This Zoom Meeting was recorded and will be made available for playback at the District’s Benefit website at
Look for the section “CalPERS MEDICAL”, then subsection “Retirees”.
Under the “CalPERS Live Webinar – Recording 6/30/2020” will be the Zoom meeting of 7/17/2020 (when they get it posted). I would encourage all retirees to go to this website and review the CalPERS MEDICAL section.
Also, there was a chat session during the Zoom meeting and I saved all the chat to a file (see attached)
__ If you are over 65 and do not have both Medicare parts A & B, then you default to the “BASIC” or B Plan.
__ “2020 Health Benefit Summary” booklet compares all the health plans. It was mailed to everyone. Also can be downloaded from the District’s Benefit website (see link above).
__ For the “Retiree Monthly Contributions” in Ventura County, see Region 2 that was mailed to you.
__ CalPERS Health Benefit is by Calendar Year which is January 2021. Therefore, deductibles amounts reset to zero in January.
__ Also deductibles amounts are reset in September 2020 when we start with CalPERS Health Benefit.
__ Medicare part B monthly premiums will be reimbursable with proof of payment starting September 2020. Reimbursements will be handled by a 3rd party. VCCCD can not pay these premiums directly as it is prohibited by law.
Yesterday, July 5, 2020, on her Facebook page, Donna Granata, Executive Director of Focus on the Masters, posted arrangements for Gerd Koch’s final services.
“Gerd Koch’s burial will take place on Tuesday, July 7 at 2 p.m. at Ivy Lawn Cemetery, 5400 Valentine Rd., Ventura. The graveside service will be extremely limited and by invitation only due to Covid.
“There will be two opportunities for the public to participate to allow for everyone to pay their respects.
“We are planning to broadcast the service on Facebook Live so that you can watch from the comfort of your home. You will need to make sure you are a “friend” on Facebook of Donna Granata, Gerd and/or Carole or “like” the Focus on the Masters Facebook page. If all goes as planned, we will share the live link to each of these pages and ask that you share the link to reach the whole community.”
“You may also participate in a drive by procession that will allow you to remain in your car and drive by the grave site while listening to the service on Facebook. The location is very close to the road and the road is part of a loop. You can remain in the loop for the duration of the service or exit at any time. We anticipate the service to be about 30 minutes. Signs will direct you.
“We invite you to wear a hat on Tuesday in honor of Gerd.
“There will be no public memorial gathering after the burial at this time due to Covid. We will plan a Celebration of Life at a later date. Please share to help us get the word out. Thank you and please stay well.”
As Donna notes, the graveside service is by invitation only, but everyone is invited to view the online streaming of the service. You must have a Facebook account to view the service streaming AND you must be a ‘friend’ of Donna Granata, Gerd, and/or Carole. OR, if you go to ‘Focus on the Masters’ Facebook page and “LIKE” the page, you will be able to view the streaming of the service there.
