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Lodi chamber honors Lewis as Lodi's Citizen of the Year

Lodi City Councilman Larry Hansen put it succinctly when he introduced Dennis Lewis, Lodi's Outstanding Citizen of the Year.

"There is a Santa Claus in the city of Lodi, and his name is Dennis Lewis," Hansen said.

Lewis was honored with the William T. Harkins Outstanding Citizen of the Year on Tuesday night by the Lodi Chamber of Commerce at Hutchins Street Square.

Lewis told a virtual who's who of Lodi at the chamber dinner that some 1,400 underprivileged children received Christmas gifts in December, with more than 400 of them receiving bicycles.

Lewis founded Adopt-A-Child in 1989 and continually leads the effort to provide Christmas gifts and school clothes for needy children on Lodi's Eastside. He has also sponsored two Boy Scout and Girl Scout troops as a gang deterrent while helping needy young people in numerous ways.

The chamber honored five other people for their public service — Terry Knutson of Cottage Bakery, Industrialist of the Year; Stanton Lange, Agribusiness Person of the Year; The mother-daughter team of Beverly Mannon-McFarland and Heather Doneen, Deanna Enbright Chamber Volunteers of the Year; and Troy Meath, Ray Hirning Street Faire Volunteer of the Year.

Entertainment was provided by Andrew Chesley, executive director of the San Joaquin Council of Governments, who provided comic relief wearing a white chef's hat and a bright red apron while singing the Dean Martin hit, "That's Amore," and an opera selection with his baritone voice.

Dennis Lewis

A Lodi police officer for 34 years before retiring in 2005, Lewis founded Adopt-A-Child when he was president of the Lodi Police Officers Association.

Knutson was cited for putting Lodi on the map with bread cooked at Cottage Bakery being sold at Safeway other chain stores and being served at restaurants, chain restaurants and fast-food outlets in Canada, Japan, Singapore, New Zealand and other locations in addition to the United States, chamber President and CEO Pat Patrick said.

Knutson's father, Ray Knutson and Wayne Larson purchased Cottage Bakery in 1954 and has remained in the Knutson family in Lodi ever since. It was recently sold to Ralcorp Holdings, based in St. Louis, Mo.

The manufacturing plant at Cottage Bakery in south Lodi measures 350,000 square feet, and the company employs almost 700.

Knutson was unable to attend Tuesday's chamber dinner due to a pre-planned vacation, but the firm's human resources director, Bart Spence, accepted the award.

Mother-daughter duo Beverly Mannon-McFarland, right, and Heather Doneen each accept the Deanna Enright Chamber Volunteer Award. (Angelina Gervasi/News-Sentinel)

Lange, older brother of Acampo vintners Brad and Randy Lange, manages 17 varieties of winegrapes on more than 1,000 acres in the Lodi area. He is active in the wine industry, chairing the Lodi-Woodbridge Winegrape Commission's Research Committee, for which he's served for nearly 16 years. He also helped update the Lodi Winegrower's Workbook to encourage sustainable viticulture.

"This is really gratifying," Lange said upon receiving the chamber award. "What is in the future I don't know, but I'm looking forward to it."

For Chamber Volunteers of the Year, chamber officials chose a mother-daughter team described as "great ambassadors for the chamber," new chamber chairman Eric Daegling said as he introduced them.

Mannon-McFarland, administrator at Fairmont Rehabilitation Hospital in Lodi, said she enjoys the opportunity to meet and network with the business community as chamber ambassador.

Doneen, her daughter, helps with special events at Fairmont Rehabilitation Hospital.

Meath began volunteering at the Lodi Street Faire in 1994. His duties are varied, ranging from climbing onto store roofs to install speakers to stocking the drinking booths, moving furniture and giving people rides on golf carts from one part of the Faire to another, said Street Faire co-chairwoman Marie Rodriguez.

Contact reporter Ross Farrow at rossf@lodinews.com.

First published: Wednesday, January 31, 2007