Marvelous Moms: On this day dedicated to moms, here's a salute to Clark County's 'Mothers of the Year'

The Clark County Mother of the Year Awards Committee honored nine women in a variety of categories for their commitment to their families and the community.

The 28th annual awards presentation took place last Sunday at the Gold Coast. Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., presented the awards. The committee, a nonprofit group of women dedicated to honoring the "unsung heroes" of Clark County, includes: Fedora Bontempi Simpkin, Marie Ripps, Elizabeth Foy and Sandra Thompson.

The honorees are:

Public Service Mother of the Year: Mary Kincaid

County Commissioner Mary Kincaid is well-known in the community, but a friend says her devotion to her family has long gone unrecognized. She says Kincaid's greatest accomplishment has been the strong, committed guidance she has offered as a mother to her eight children and many others whom she helped raise.

Kincaid was married at 18 and raised her children to understand the fundamental values of family, economy, community service and hard work -- not to mention how to share one bathroom in a busy household. She and her husband, Dave, used the family-owned flower shop as a classroom in which to teach their children to work hard and to work together.

Her maternal influence extended to 22 other children whom she helped raise because they had no positive role models in their lives. She also helped children as a member of the board of directors for the Boys and Girls Clubs and the Boy and Girl Scouts.

She served on the North Las Vegas City Council for 16 years and was elected a county commissioner in 1997.

During her County Commission campaign, her husband died, and she dealt with the loss and sorrow in the same way she has met many challenges in her life -- with courage, faith and determination, a friend says.

Motivational Mother of the Year: Gertie Schiller

Gertie Schiller and her husband moved to Las Vegas in 1968 with their two toddler boys and another child due in three weeks. About two years later, she gave birth to twins. Having five children under the age of 6 -- two of whom were nursing -- was an incredible challenge in addition to managing a household on a beginning teacher's salary.

"Raising kids actually got easier after 3," Schiller says. "Most people stop earlier when it is the hardest."

Her son Greg recalls that when the five kids would argue, mother would step in and do what he says was the worst thing of all. She would force all five to sit around the dining room table and face each other in silence. She then would set the timer on the stove based on how bad the argument was. It did not matter who started what. By the time the bell rang, the children were all laughing, tired of looking at each other and ready to leave, forgetting about what started the argument.

She opened her home to her children's friends, becoming the legal guardian of one boy who had been mistreated. There were others who consider her Mom.

After the children were grown, Schiller worked as the office manager for Wengert Elementary School. She plans to retire in July.

Two of Schiller's children are chiropractors; three are Air Force Academy graduates who include a pilot, an astronautical engineer and an aeronautical engineer.

Greg says of his mother: "Each of us has been infused with a well-rounded attitude grounded in sports, academics and social abilities. Her lessons continue to apply themselves even now as each of us begins to raise our own children. That's the lasting testament to a true mother -- the continuing generations of well-rounded, happy, successful children."

Volunteer Mother of the Year: Vivienne Parlade-Kerns.

Vivienne Parlade-Kerns, 69, has been married for 43 years and is the mother of eight children, grandmother of 20 and great-grandmother of two.

Her children include a restaurant owner, a retired major in the military, a nuclear scientist and department head at the University of Iowa, and a Las Vegas Municipal Court judge.

A friend describes Kerns as a vivacious and energetic woman who is quick to help others, especially the elderly and terminally ill.

As a Navy wife, she had to play the role of mother and father. Though finances were tight, she taught her children to help others and opened her home to stranded families.

Her son Ken says: "Mom taught us the importance of honesty, integrity, loyalty and charity, and, most importantly, hard work."

No matter where the family was stationed, Kerns volunteered to help others. She was founder of the International Women's Club at Hill Air Force Base in Utah, was a delegate to the Colorado Council on Aging, and was founder of the Bride's School in the Philippines that provided free education for U.S. servicemen's wives and would-be wives.

In Las Vegas she has been active with the Retired Senior Volunteer Program and the hospice where she administers to terminally ill patients. She enjoys hula dancing for seniors at senior centers.

Kerns is the reigning Ms. Senior Sweetheart of America, and was second place and Ms. Congeniality in the 1995 Ms. Senior Clark County pageant.

One of her proudest moments was when she became an American citizen after the family's move to Florida in 1968.

Community Service Mother of the Year: Deborah Desouza

Her daughter, Carrie, says Deborah DeSouza's philosophy is that a positive attitude makes for a happy person.

When Carrie was in grade school, her mother put notes in her lunch or her book bag saying "I love you," "I'm thinking about you" or "I'm proud of you." Carrie says her mother still manages to leave a note in her purse or organizer.

DeSouza worked nights so she could be with Carrie during the day. Even though she couldn't afford the tuition, she put her daughter through private school because she wanted her to have a better education. Carrie was also involved in tap, ballet, gymnastics, dance and baseball. Then it was the flag team, cheerleading squad and student council representative. Carrie credits her involvement to her mother's belief in her. Her mother also took part in some of the activities, acting as a manager, even though it meant missing out on sleep.

DeSouza is director of community resources at The Shade Tree Shelter for women and children. She seeks community donations of time, money and products for the shelter. She also seeks people and businesses to do repairs on the building for free. She gives children in the shelter the opportunity to visit amusement parks and other social activities so they can have "normal" experiences.

Carrie, who attends UNLV, says her mother is a great inspiration to the community and "a gleam of hope in a world full of hate and violence."

Education Mother of the Year: Mary Macioce.

Her husband, Richard, says Mary Macioce is the ideal model of 1990s motherhood.

She is the mother of a grown son, a daughter by foreign adoption and a son by foster adoption. He says she has an inexhaustible supply of energy and nurturing.

Macioce is a math teacher at Cimarron-Memorial High School. Every night she grades papers, does lesson plans or calls parents not just to tell them of their children's struggles in class, but to tell them how well their children are doing. She gives her home phone number to her students and makes herself available every night, including weekends, for phone tutoring.

She is the adviser for Future Educators of America at Cimarron-Memorial High School and was voted the most spirited teacher at the school for the last two years. She is a member of the Junior League of Las Vegas, Parent Network for Post-Institutionalized Children, the Romanian Children's Relief, Angel Plane and Ronald McDonald House.

Macioce is pursuing her master's degree in education and is a member of the Southern Nevada Math Council.

A former student who is now grown says that, as a teacher, Macioce demonstrated infinite patience, a passion for teaching and a warm and sincere personality.

Nurturing Mother of the Year: Wendy Barnum.

Her husband, David, says of Wendy Barnum: "I see her beauty, works and selfless giving to all that are blessed to be in her company. Each day is a joy to awake and know I have her to share it with."

They have been married 26 years and have five children ranging in age from 3 to 21. She quit her teaching job to raise her children, and has helped countless others. She organized a full Christmas for a neighbor family that included seeking aid and donations of gifts for each of the five children and their parents, and cooking them a full meal, in addition to preparing her own family's meal.

She often cooks and serves meals to neighbors in need, especially those who are sick or who are new mothers. She also cleaned the house of an older neighor and nursed her on a daily basis for six months until the woman died. She sewed three beautiful wedding dresses for girls who could not afford to buy them. She is a blood donor and a parent volunteer at Johnson Junior High.

She takes in children during the day so recovering new mothers can rest, and she visits elderly neighbors. She tutored her three sons and encouraged their achieving the rank of Eagle Scout, including receiving the three palms above the rank.

Military Mother of the Year: Kerry Larkin-Varwig.

Kerry Larkin-Varwig has said that if she doesn't stand up for what's right, or ask that people behave themselves and not terrorize or intimidate others, that she will know in her heart that she has not made this a better world for her three children.

Her sister, Erin, says that every neighborhood in which her sister has lived has become a better place: cleaner, calmer and changed by her examples of kindness and insistence upon excellent behavior.

Larkin-Varwig is the wife of the commander of the Nellis Air Force Base Weapons School. She has done logistics and planning for moves from Germany, New Mexico, Las Vegas, Virginia, Alaska and once again to Las Vegas. It isn't easy moving three children ages 5, 8 and 10, and a household.

People around her breathe a sigh of relief when she is brave enough to ask those who are rude or threatening to behave. In Alaska, some teens in her neighborhood were running amok, riding their bikes across private property, doing drugs and driving down values of the surrounding community. Larkin-Varwig got them to stop their bad habits and behave. She took action when the other neighbors had been afraid to do anything.

She helps maintain a support network for pilots' families, publishes a monthly newsletter, and uses her management and leadership skills to help spouses who are new to Las Vegas and pregnant adjust to military life.

Inspirational Mother of the Year: Barbara Trickle.

A native of Wisconsin, Barbara Trickle met her future husband of 35 years when they were in sixth grade at a Catholic elementary school.

A friend says they became the all-American family when they adopted a son and a daughter. They lived, ate and breathed motor sports. Trickle kept the books, worked into the late hours, which motor sports demands, and continued to be the backbone of the family business, Western Mailing Service.

Her belief that family comes first was tested to the limit beginning with Feb. 9, 1997. On that day, her 24-year-old son, Chris, was shot in the head as he was driving along I-15. It was a senseless act that today remains unsolved.

Trickle devoted herself to her wounded son 24 hours a day. She never complained. She was determined to lift her family back on its feet, while maintaining her composure. Only three days after her son was shot, she took up residence in a motor home outside the UMC trauma unit where her son lay in a coma. She steadfastly believed he would recover and walk out of the hospital.

Chris was in a coma and had brain damage. He had undergone five surgeries and had a severe bout of pneumonia. His mother never gave up hope he would recover.

When the medical insurance ran out, Chris was returned to a Las Vegas hospital. She continued to be by his side, taking out only enough time to spend two-and-a -half days in the hospital to have her own bleeding ulcer treated.

After more than a year of battling the gunshot wound, Chris died March 25. Trickle wants to ensure that his legacy lives on by becoming involved in movements against crime to prevent such tragedies from happening to any family.

Barbara was nominated by Mike Henle and several friends.

Exemplary Mother of the Year: Jeanne Donadio.

A friend says Jeanne Donadio showed the limitless bounds of motherhood by opening her home and her heart to the two daughters of a good friend.

When the friend, who was a single mother, became ill with a brain tumor, Donadio invited her two daughters to live in her home while their mother was recovering from surgery. The girls moved back home when their mother's health improved and the cancer went into remission. However, Donadio continued helping out the family.

Last fall, after the woman died, Donadio again took in her daughters. and made them a part of her family, which includes her husband, a son who attends UNLV and a high-school-age daughter.

Friends say that as a former home economics teacher, Donadio has created a home that exemplifies a woman's personal touch. She cooks dinner most evenings and sews, decorates and helps with homework.

She also is an assistant principal at Brinley Middle School, a member of the Clark County School District's Attendance Committee and has taught two sessions of the Educational Leadership Two class for teachers who want to become administrators.

She is an officer in Alpha Delta Kappa, a sorority for women educators, a member of the PTA, National Association of Secondary School Principals and the Clark County Association of School Administrators. She is active in Christ the King Catholic Church.

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