The Rotary Club of Murrieta has named John Hunneman as Hero of the Month for September. A U.S. Navy veteran, Hunneman covered events and news in Southwest Riverside County as a journalist and columnist for a quarter century. In early 2015, he was named director of communications for then newly elected State Senator Jeff Stone, yet he continues to write a weekly column for The Valley News.
The Hero honors, instituted this summer, is part of the build up to Murrieta Rotary’s Field of Honor which will be staged in Town Square Park, Nov. 8-14. Each month before the 2,015 flags are posted, a Hero – individual or group – will be selected. The heroes will be honored at the Patriot’s Ball concluding the week-long Field.
Heroes previously selected include Ginger Greaves, executive director of the Santa Rosa Plateau Nature Education Foundation, who was Hero of the Month for August. Warfighter Made, a Murrieta organization that provides recreational therapy to ill, injured and combat wounded service members and veterans, was the Murrieta Rotary’s Hero of the month for July.
Hunneman and his wife, Yvonne, have been active volunteers in the community since moving to Murrieta in 1988. They both served on the Community Recreation Center Building Foundation and are still active volunteers at the Temecula Valley Balloon and Wine Festival. John coached and managed Murrieta Valley Little League teams for more than a dozen years, and both he and Yvonne were active in the Murrieta Valley Nighthawks Football Booster Club. John has been the emcee of the Murrieta Veteran’s Day Parade since its inception and he currently serves on the City of Murrieta’s Historic Preservation Committee. He has been the master of ceremonies for the Murrieta Field of Honor’s Candlelight Ceremony, featuring Murrieta Valley Unified School District schools choirs, for five years.
For his contributions to the community, John was named Citizen of the Year by the Temecula Valley Chamber of Commerce in 1992 and a “John Hunneman Day” was proclaimed by the Temecula City Council in 2004. He’s even been honored with a public restroom, dubbed “The Hunneman Head,” located on 6th Street in Old Town Temecula.
Nominations for the October Hero of the Month will be accepted through October 15. Nominate your hero by sending a picture of the Hero, a short biography, a few short sentences on why the individual or organization should be selected, plus contact information (address, email and telephone numbers of the hero and you) to MurrietaRotary@gmail.com or by private message on Murrieta Rotary’s Facebook page.
Heroes being nominated must be: living, 18 years or older and residents of Riverside County, California
Hero selections will be made by a committee of Murrieta Rotary members; all nomination information will become property of the Rotary Club of Murrieta and may be used in promotion of the Field of Honor.