DID YOU KNOW?

In 1910, the Grampus and Pike, two of the Navy’s earliest submarines, were docked at Coronado, south of the ferry landing piers (where Peohe’s restaurant is now). When the Navy began building four bigger and better submarines, the need for more trained personnel became critical. Cmdr. Louis Richardson, head of the Pacific Torpedo Flotilla, set up a submarine school north of the piers. He recruited 72 volunteers from Navy cruisers. Only cream-of-the crop sailors with impeccable credentials were asked to volunteer. According to the May 29, 1911, issue of the San Diego Union, because of their tents, the men named their school a camp, calling it Camp Richardson, “as a compliment to their leader.” To learn more about the area’s submarine history, visit the Coronado Historical Association’s current exhibition, “A View from the Periscope.” ■

LESLIE CRAWFORD COLLECTION

Setting an example

Jean Landon’s courage living with ALS inspires scholarship award for young women

By GRACE CASSIDY and MARTINA SCHIMITSCHEK

‘Life does not have to be perfect to be wonderful.” That’s Jean Landon’s mantra. Landon, who was diagnosed with Lou Gehrig’s disease in 2015, is now no longer able to walk, stand or speak, but her attitude remains positive.

That positive attitude, along with her strength and determination, has been an inspiration for the many people who know her — so much so that her friends decided to start a foundation in her name.

The Jean Landon Inspiration Award was established in early 2020. The idea was to honor Landon by giving a scholarship to an inspirational young woman graduating from Coronado High School.

According to Landon, the criteria are simple.

“The award goes to a senior girl at Coronado High School who demonstrates excellence in community service, scholastics and is an inspiration to others in both the community and at school,” she said via email.

A group of Landon’s friends came up

« The Landon family gathers in front of their home. Front row: Jean with granddaughters Avery (left) and Harper. Back row from left: daughter-in-law, Mallory; son, Matthew; husband, Dave; and son John. COURTESY OF JEAN LANDON

“I always had a strong faith that God can weave all things, even my ALS, into a pattern for good.”

JEAN LANDON

with the idea for the scholarship. The friends are all members of Coronado’s P.E.O. International chapter XI — a philanthropic organization where women help women — and originally thought they would start the award through the P.E.O. chapter.

But after exploring the possibilities, they decided to work with the Coronado Schools Foundation because they didn’t want the students to go through an application process. They wanted all female students to be considered equally, said Connie Spitzer, Landon’s friend and one of driving forces behind the award.

“Wanting to honor Jean was a huge motivating factor for us to move forward. Watching her battle ALS, she has served as a real inspiration to all of us,” said Kate Carinder, another friend and one of the scholarship’s organizers. “We thought it would be great to establish the Jean Landon Inspiration Award to let her know how much we all love her. Establishing this scholarship just seemed fitting. No one can ever take away your education.”

CSF invests the money and runs the scholarship. The teen girls are selected by a committee. The winner is announced at the annual senior awards ceremony in June. This has been the third year a $1,000 award has been given.

“They have been so well selected,” Spitzer said of the recipients. “The girls have all been so deserving and so grateful.”

The group got the scholarship up and running during the pandemic. Contributions came in through the local P.E.O. chapter, an email campaign to Landon’s friends and other individual contributions. The turning point came in April with an in-person dinner in Landon’s honor at the local Veterans of Foreign Wars post. That event raised more than half of the group’s goal of $50,000, the minimum endowment level at the Coronado Schools Foundation.

“When we started this effort, we wanted to make sure that we could raise enough funds to endow the award so that it could continue in perpetuity,” Carinder said.

The dinner gave people a chance to talk to Landon, and for Landon to thank people, especially her family. Her husband, Dave, a former Navy captain, and son John are her primary caregivers.

The Landons settled in Coronado in 1988, raising their two sons, Matthew and John, here. Jean Landon’s father also served in the Navy, and while growing up,

Landon moved often, attending a dozen different schools.

In Coronado, Landon at first worked as a pediatric nurse and then focused on her children. Later, she opened Spruce It Up, an interior decorating and organization business, which she had to close due to increasing symptoms. Symptoms started with weakness first in one leg, then the other in 2013. It wasn’t until two years later that doctors identified her symptoms as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.

At the beginning of her diagnosis, the Landons spent time traveling.

“They took a lot of cruises,” Spitzer said. “She was in a wheelchair, and when people came up to her, she always let them know how blessed she is.”

By the end of 2019, traveling became too difficult. Landon has broken 12 bones from falls since the onset of ALS. But still, she has defied the odds. The average life expectancy of individuals with ALS is two to five years after diagnosis. Landon, 67, is still going strong nine years after the onset of symptoms.

“She’s got to be struggling, but she won’t let on,” Spitzer said. “To have ALS and never complain, she has just inspired so many people.”

Landon’s faith is her lodestar.

“I always had a strong faith that God can weave all things, even my ALS, into a pattern for good. This award is part of that good. We are able to help deserving young women financially achieve their educational goals,” Landon said. “I am truly honored and humbled that my friends

KATE CARINDER

Nina Pierce, the 2022 recipient of the Jean Landon Inspiration Award, poses with her parents, Nathaniel and Cristina Pierce, and Landon at Coronado High School.

KATE CARINDER Jean Landon’s friends and family gather for a celebration and fundraiser at Coronado’s Veterans of Foreign Wars post on April 9, 2022.

and P.E.O. sisters wanted to create this in my honor.

“The most rewarding aspect of the scholarship is that for generations, we are able to acknowledge and encourage young women to be an inspiration in their own way. Young women can be an inspiration by being a mentor, by having a positive attitude in the face of difficulties, by stepping up when others don’t,” she said.

For Landon, the Coronado community stepped up when she was in need.

The team name for her ALS fundraiser walks is “It Takes a Village.” “I’ve always believed in the saying,” Landon said.

“When I was diagnosed with ALS, the community sprang into action, bringing us dinner twice a week, driving me on outings, accommodating my wheelchair at meetings, sending me encouraging notes, praying for me, being patient with my speech struggles, and, of course, donating to the scholarship fund. I wouldn’t want to live anywhere else in the world.

“I’ve been a perfectionist all my life, but ALS taught me that it’s OK if everything isn’t perfect. Life is still pretty darn wonderful.” ■

Grace Cassidy is a freelance writer.