WISDOM WOMEN
Wisdom Women recognizes one “wonderful” woman each quarter
who embraces the Science of Mind teaching and lives life to its fullest.
WINTER 2024 WONDER WOMAN
GLENDA BURNETT
An Interview with Glenda Burnett, by Ann Monahan
When is the last time you heard someone say, "I was given a truly charmed life ... and I have absolutely no regrets. What a gift. I am so grateful!”
We all agree. "What a gift,” indeed!
Having just spent a few hours learning about her life, I discovered SHE IS TRULY CHARMING!!!! So, Mrs. Glenda Burnett, you weren't given this "truly charmed life” - you created it! And, as the traditional Christmas movie states, “It's A Wonderful Life" indeed.
It all began on a lovely day in May, 1936 when Glenn and Jane O'Nion welcomed the first child and first grandchild to the family - a beautiful baby girl named for them both … thus Glenda Jane.
Los Angeles has been “home” for most of her life. She attended 87th St School throughout her grammar school years. She took violin lessons and was the youngest student in the school orchestra. During the 5th grade she broke her left arm two times(!) and had to trade violin for piano. She attended Children's Concerts at the LA Philharmonic regularly. Her love of music has never left. A dozen years ago, she helped establish YOLA (Youth Orchestra of Los Angeles).
Glenda began her "social joining” early in life - starting as a Brownie, moving onto Girl Scouts, then to Job's Daughters and the 4H Club. While in the latter, she raised a colt and rabbits, and learned to sew and preserve food.
In 1948 her family moved to a Granada Hills ranch where her love of horses and animals flourished. She rode her mare named Bess in an equestrian group, “The Granavajos.” It took three days to ride to Santa Barbara where the group rode in the Spanish Days Parade.
At the tender age of 13 she learned to drive in an old Model A. At 16, she was employed as a “Dutch girl” at the Van De Camp bakery where she worked throughout her years attending at UCLA.
While attending San Fernando High School she met Dave, the love of her life. They dated for six years and have been married for 63 years!
Their union was blessed with two wonderful boys who accompanied Mom & Dad on summer camping vacations to every state and every national park in the USA! Wow!!!! Now that's traveling!
Glenda and Dave lived in Maryland for awhile when he was stationed in the Army. Glenda moved back to California to establish a home for them after his military stint. She then taught at Porter Jr. High. During this time she joined the Valley University Women's Club and - guess what? - became their president.
Our Glenda doesn't ever just dip her big toe in - she dives in head first always. Yes, she is indeed a "Wonder Woman”!
For many years, she worked for a design center which sold home furnishings. Desirous to share her love of travel, she and Dave established Wanderlust Travels in 1989 leading tours to about 20 different countries. She and Dave have visited an additional 60+ countries over the years.
Back home, Glenda joined the LA Philharmonic Valley Committee and (you guessed it!) became their president. She successfully established many fundraisers and still supports the LA Philharmonic to this day.
Her beloved sons live in Woodland Hills and in New York state. She and Dave have lived in their current home in Agoura since 1967.
Glenda had been following a column in the local Agoura Acorn newspaper written by Dennis Merritt Jones. A friend brought her to our spiritual center in Westlake Village when Rev. Dennis was the guest speaker - and Glenda’s been with us ever since!
When asked what advice she’d give to others, Glenda’s response is: "Relax and accept people as they are," and "Don't put any energy into worry.”
She and Dave both say "We are very grateful for our lives.” Again Glenda, you created a charmed life, a wonderful life - well lived.
We are delighted to call you our Winter Wonder Woman, 2024!
FALL 2023 WONDER WOMAN
Move over Daniel Webster!
Surely, you meant well with your definition of the word "amazing", but the true meaning of this word has recently been uncovered. The true meaning of this word is Rev. Nancy Berggren!
She was barely out of diapers when her mother discerned a southern accent in her speech and took her to acting classes. Nancy began working as an actress in film and television at two and a half years old - and retired just a few months ago, at the age of 90!
The Herald Examiner newspaper gave her the prestigious title of "Best Actress in Southern California" at age four - when Nancy was a veteran actress (ha!).
She met a nice guy during a screen-test at MGM in 1951. And, while neither of them got a film contract, they agreed to a lifetime contract when they married in 1952. Dick was her first Science of Mind Practitioner, and they enjoyed 50 years of love and spiritual growth, in addition to raising four children.
Nancy grew up on Oahu, where her father was stationed at Pearl Harbor, so hula was a natural part of her repertoire. She was in a professional Polynesian dance troupe in the 1960s, performing all over Southern California for 6 years. “I LOVED it!” she says. Nancy is a Pearl Harbor survivor: she was just six years old and watched the attack from her upstairs bedroom window.
She left her acting career to raise her children, and to become a Science of Mind minister. She was Senior Minister at the Fallbrook (CA) Church of Religious Science from 1994-2004.
In her spare time, she found time to write and publish, ”Life Is A Game, and You Can Play It.”
Nancy taught classes for two summer conferences in Russia, supported by United Church of Religious Science. Following that, her book was translated into Russian and more recently, into Ukrainian.
She was a contributor to a book that will be published this fall, "Spinning Mistakes Into Gold.” It’s all about mistakes that you may have made and what you learned from them. Nancy authored another book, "To Hell With Old Age,” which will be released on Kindle before Christmas.
During a morning meditation at an Asilomar retreat in 2000, Spirit announced that she was going to do a One-Woman Musical Show. Her response: "Oh, no! I don't know how! No. It's Impossible!"
Then it all came together like magic - and she was committed. It took nine months to birth her baby, called To Life, with Love, in which she played 10 characters, changing costumes on stage for each one. She sang, danced, and jitter-bugged for two fantastic performances at the Fallbrook Center for Spiritual Living, where she was the Senior Minister. She even wrote a song for it!
Does the word "Amazing" begin to creep into her description?
When asked, ”What would you say has been the mantra for your life?”, her face lit up as she said, "Life just works better when you smile".
And now you can readily understand why we can correct the erroneous definition after the word “amazing" in Webster’s Dictionary. We can make sure that it reads: "Rev Nancy Berggren.”
That’s Nancy, age 10, in the dressing room at the home of actress Jane Wyman who was married to an unknown Hollywood actor named Ronald Reagan.
Nancy opened the wardrobe door to see hundreds of pairs of shoes. “I’d never even imagined owning so many shoes. I had just one pair of summer shoes and one pair for winter.”
Regarding this publicity photo: “I made the headdress out of a wire coat hanger and chicken feathers!
“I HATED having my picture taken, so how they got this one, I have no idea!”
Following their meeting at MGM studios, Dick hurried home and said to his mom,
"I just met the woman I'm going to marry.”
Nancy says, “This One-Woman Show was one of the most awesome experiences of my life!”
A Berggren family photo spanning four generations, picturing 17 of Nancy’s current 22 grand- and great-grandchildren.
SUMMER 2023 WONDER WOMAN
What woman over fifty do you know who has successfully aced three careers and is busy with her fourth?
Enter beautiful Lisa Carey!!
Lisa says, “My motto is I live by my word. My father taught me to keep my dialogue within myself and he taught me how to speak to others. My mom, a dress designer, was taking figure skating lessons when I came along. As a very young child I started skating on double runners in my hometown, Woodland Hills. I just loved it!”
And the rest is history. (Editor's note)......and what a history it was and is!!!”
At age 12, her coach suggested she should skate with a tall boy at the local rink. “It was such fun. He picked me up and spun me around. People were watching. Three years later, together we became U.S. Junior National Figure Skating Pairs Skating Champions, and by the time I was 17 we were 1976 Olympic alternates in the senior division.”
Lisa stayed in high school through all of this with a rigorous schedule. Up at 4:30am; on the ice by 5:30am; then off to school; back to the ice after school. “I ate, dressed and did homework in the car,” she explains. She repeated this routine day after day.
A talent scout took notice and asked her to skate professionally with a former British Pair Champion with The Ice Follies. “We worked hard to learn each other's techniques. Within three months we were given a starring role. We skated in the Ice Follies for four years and then with Ice Capades for 5½ years. Along the way, we won the U.S. National Professional Championship and brought home a silver medal in the World Professional Championships. Performing in Spain, South Africa, the U.K., and China, among other places, was also a great way to see the world.”
Throughout this time, Lisa was taking UCLA correspondence classes and running marathons. She’s completed four marathons to date, and recently ran in a local 10K to celebrate her 65th birthday!
Career number two:
Lisa interviewed a guest lecturer at UCLA and was so intrigued with the experience that she was hired by the woman shortly thereafter. Thus began her Public Relations career, where she was promoted to General Manager within two years. Ultimately she founded Lisa Carey Public Relations and served many well-known clients including Ice Capades, Harlem Globetrotters, the California Strawberry Festival, Watermelon Festival and most rewarding - the World Championship Figure Skating, a precursor to the Olympics. She proudly has never had to advertise. People came to her as she creatively found ways to connect the community to her clients.
And now enter Judd, her beloved husband of 32 years. They have been blessed with two beautiful daughters, Quinn and Zoe. Lisa happily discovered that she could be a mom and work from a home office.
Yes, career number three: Wife and Mom.
How successful was, and is she? One glance at the adoring smile on Judd's face says it all
Meanwhile, her PR agency was so successful that she was constantly having to turn down clients. Her PR firm ran for 27 years! A highlight of those years was an acrobat flying over the Hollywood Sign to promote Ringling Brothers Circus!!!! Closer to home, she had our own Dr. James and his “Inner-Views” on TV. And Holland Taylor on KTTV.
Not one to ever rest on her laurels - or rest at all for that matter! - our beautiful Lisa now has a website titled “Intentfully Fit” (having learned the results of setting an intention at GTC). This is a website where women over 50 celebrate their ageless authenticity.
You guessed it: career number four!!! Opening up a conversation about loving where you’re at in life without a number attached, in themes of lifestyle, fitness, nutrition and mindfulness. She credits her skating years for teaching her to “just show up and do it. If you fall you fall, it’s more about getting back up and believing in yourself.”
It is surely no mystery why our dear Lisa Carey was named our “Summer Wonder Woman.” She does indeed “Live by her word” and succeeds beautifully at everything she touches!!
SPRING 2023 WONDER WOMAN
JO JORDAN
Did you ever walk into a room and get the distinct feeling that there is magic in the air? Look around and sure enough - you’ll see Jo Jordan with her illuminating smile and charming magical presence.
The world has experienced her wonder for the past 94 years and she has been selected as GTC’s "Spring Wonder Woman.”
Born here in LA as Josefita Parra, she began a long and successful acting career at the tender age of eight in a 1942 comedy titled, "Tuttles of Tahiti,” with Betty Grable, John Payne and Charles Laughton. Jo has been acting in film, television and commercials ever since.
On one of her movie shoots, while working with Stewart Granger, he asked, “Would you be interested in standing in for my wife who is arriving from England? The resemblance is striking!” Jo agreed, and thus began a 50-year friendship and professional collaboration with Jean Simmons. “She was like a sister to me,” Jo recalls.
Jo’s schooling consisted of private Catholic schools culminating in a scholarship to Immaculate Heart College. Though she followed Catholicism for years, she never fully embraced it. Instead, she has been in the spiritual mindset of Science of Mind for as long as she can remember.
She married and was blessed with two wonderful children, Cassandra (Cass) and Michael. Unfortunately, her husband was abusive. So this brave young lady ran out with her two children and a total of 45 cents in her pocket. What spunk!!!
Her second marriage didn’t work out, but Jo is quick to add, “My past is part of my evolution, it’s helped make me what I am today."
Trying to make ends meet, she worked three jobs, one of which was at a nightclub. Alcohol was all around her, and her social life included lots of it.
Years later, she accompanied her teenage son to an AA meeting, and felt an immediate connection to the philosophy of personal responsibility. She made a promise to herself to stay faithful to the program for 25 years, during which Jo was a counselor to many of the women in AA. At the 25-year mark, she explains, “I opened the door and proudly walked out!”
During this time, in 1987, she went with a friend to the North Hollywood Church of Religious Science and shortly thereafter, she heard about a brand-new spiritual center, the NoHo Arts Center. She is so very grateful for the presence of Dr. James Mellon who teaches her “the fine points of life every day."
In 2014, Jo went on an audition for a music video. “I positively flipped out when I learned it was for Jason Mraz!” she enthuses. As she sat in the room full of hopeful auditioners, she thought, “This part is mine.” And it was … as she was prominently featured in this beautiful short film featuring his song, “We Can Take the Long Way.”
And - just a few weeks ago, Jo auditioned for the part of “Old Lady” in a comedy horror movie. No surprise: she got the part! She’ll be playing “a sweet little old lady who leads a double life as an agent of evil!” (Can you imagine – Jo Jordan impersonating someone evil???)
Jo is the beloved "grandma" to four very fortunate youngsters and a dear friend to all of us.
Yes, truly joy and love do spring eternal in the heart of Jo Jordan as she continues to spread her smile and her special “magic" wherever she goes!
NOVEMBER 2022 WONDER WOMAN
DIANE BRABANT
Ever hear the expression "If you really want something done, ask a busy woman"?
Someone who proves the accuracy of this statement is Diane Brabant, our selected "Wonder Woman” for the month of November. Is she a busy woman? We invite you to judge for yourself.
Teaching is Diane’s lifeblood. She holds a PhD in cultural anthropology and biological anthropology and has taught at Moorpark College for the past 48 years. And she simultaneously taught comparative religions at Newbury Park High School for 38 of those years.
Another passion of Diane’s is candles! She sold her way to the top and is now vice president and lead trainer for PartyLite, a well-known candle and gift company. Many of us here at Global Truth Center have purchased or been gifted these wonderfully fragrant candles.
From teacher/mentor, to entrepreneur, to community supporter, to devoted mother, ALL of her accomplishments are still huge parts of her life.
Born in Arcata, California, Diane and her family moved to Pacific Grove, on the beautiful Monterey Peninsula, when she was in the eighth grade. She graduated from Pacific Grove High School and then from UC Berkeley in 1979.
She is the proud mother of Kristin, 32, Brett, 42, and Brandon, 43, and she has five grandchildren ages 6 to 12. She and her loving husband Steve (both of whom are Religious Science practitioners) have regularly attended our center since 1985 and have seen it through its transitions, from the Church of Religious Science to the Center for Spiritual Living to Global Truth Center.
Through all the changes, Diane says the center still speaks the same beautiful message she heard when she was 8, "That God is inside me and is someone that I can talk to and ask advice. You don't have to be perfect.”
When asked if she does any volunteer work in her community, she lists the Boy Scouts, Manna, child abuse prevention, fundraising for Newbury Park High School, Save the Children and Child's Health USA. At one time she was the committee chair and area leader for the Jane Goodall Institute. And for many years she has served our spiritual community as committee chair on numerous fundraising events, and she continues co-chairing two popular Global Truth Center fundraising events, the annual Holiday Boutique and the Wine Tour.
When asked, “What do you wonder? she said: "I wonder when all the people on Earth will appreciate life and one another.” Diane said she is happiest when outside, at the beach, the forest, or the swimming pool with family and friends.
Dear Diane, the busiest lady around, you bring that happiness to all of your friends, family, students, and to your Global Truth Center community. We are honored to honor you as Wonder Woman, November 2022.
FALL 2022 WONDER WOMAN
CYNTHIA BENGTSON
CYNTHIA BENGTSON was born into a military family in Honolulu, Hawaii. She spent her childhood moving around a lot and therefore missed the chance to set down roots. To this day she regrets not being able to sing ”When You Walk Through a Storm" with the rest of her 8th grade graduating class in Germany. After graduating high school in Turkey, she attended college, first in Munich, Germany, and then at UCLA majoring in German. After college, Cynthia went to New York and became a secretary (who didn't type or take shorthand) for the Airline Pilots Association. She came to Los Angeles at the age of 22 – and our community has been blessed by her presence ever since.
Cynthia’s greatest passion is “to be helpful and to be of service,” says Ann Monahan. This is certainly evident in Cynthia’s volunteer work at the Stagecoach Inn Museum in Thousand Oaks. Of her work at the museum, Cynthia says, “I am the co-chair of the docent council, schedule the docents, in charge of programs and attic sales, give tours, hire speakers, creator of the tea party and often do the readings.” Additionally, Cynthia has volunteered at the Goebel Adult Community Center in Thousand Oak for the last 8 years serving as a commissioner and program co-chair, providing her expertise with fundraising and program planning.
Cynthia definitely gives her heart and soul to her community.
At Global Truth Center, Cynthia holds the honor of the first "Kitchen Queen" heading up refreshments and is still the number one assistant in our kitchen on Sunday mornings helping with preparations.
When asked how she came to Science of Mind teaching, Cynthia says it was her sister who encouraged her to attend what was then called the Church of Religious Science when it was on Hillcrest Road in Thousand Oaks many years ago. She then attended what was then called the Center of Positive Living Pleasant Valley in Camarillo (now the Center for Spiritual Living Pleasant Valley). She then moved her membership to the Center for Spiritual Living Westlake Village and has remained through its transition to Global Truth Center. According to Cynthia, "Being in this teaching keeps me calm in stressful situations.”
What does this "wonder woman" wonder? “I wonder if I can get all of the things accomplished that I want,” she says. “Such as travel to the Galapagos Islands, go back to visit Germany and to see my children married and happy.”
In conclusion, Cynthia says “it’s very important to me to be nice to people, acknowledge them, be outgoing and notice the good in everyone."
Says Ann: “Cynthia is a woman who definitely lives up to her principles and frequently gives to the point of exhaustion. Our community is so blessed by her presence and passion for life, and the Wisdom Women’s group is delighted to proclaim her Wonder Woman of the Month.”
SEPTEMBER 2022’s WONDER WOMAN
AUDREY LARSON, RScP
Audrey Larson is our first "Wonder Woman" recipient, awarded by the Wisdom Women's Leadership Committee.
“Audrey embodies our teaching, and her every spoken sentence is filled with spiritual wisdom,” says Ann Monahan, the creative mind behind Wonder Woman. “We all agree it is an honor to honor her.”
Audrey says she was “hooked on” Science of Mind the very moment she met Dr. Tom Johnson of the Woodland Hills Church of Religious Science in 1996 and began her spiritual journey.
What began more than a quarter century ago continues going strong. Audrey received her Religious Science practitioner license in 2009, and she continues taking classes and offering her “presence and prayers” for those in need.
By day, Audrey is a psychiatric mental health RN and is grateful her patients are able to experience her "love for the Universal Consciousness that uses her every moment and every day opens her heart more and more to allow for full acknowledgment of her power and presence.”
WOW! With this knowingness, she also brings to her patients her dedication to "do good and to do no harm."
When asked what more she wants to accomplish, Audrey says, “My greatest love has always been dance. Ever since I heard cha-cha music in my home as a child, I was smitten" by the power of dance and movement.
Well, dear Audrey, members of Wisdom are "smitten" by you and your philosophy of living life to its fullest. Thank you. Your energy is contagious.