Chuck, Tricia Gomer Honored as 2015 ‘Citizens of the Year’

Photos courtesy of the Glendora Chamber of Commerce.

The Glendora Chamber of Commerce has announced the next residents selected as the 2015 Citizens of the Year.

Chuck Gomer and Wife Tricia Gomer have been honored for their seemingly endless contributions to the community. They will be honored at the 68th Annual Glendora Citizen of the Year Banquet in their honor on Thursday, April 21 at the Glendora Country Club, according to a written statement from the Glendora Chamber of Commerce.

The Gomers have lived in Glendora for about 29 years, deciding to settle in the city because of the “small town atmosphere” and reputation of Glendora’s schools. Their daughters Alison and Sarah are products of the Glendora Unified School District.

Chuck Gomer is a 19-year member of the district’s Board of Education as an elected trustee and is serving his fifth term as Board President. He has served as a member and chair of the Sellers and Goddard Site Councils, is the Science Master for the Glendora Elementary School Science Bowl and the Board of Education representative to the Glendora PTA Council.

Outside Glendora, Chuck Gomer is a professor in the pediatrics and radiation oncology departments at the Keck School of Medicine at the University of Southern California. At Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, Gomer serves as Vice Chair of Pediatrics for Faculty Affairs, and the Director of the Radiation Biology Cancer Research Laboratory.

Tricia Gomer also has a tremendous presence in Glendora, having served as trustee of the Glendora Library and President of the Glendora Kiwanis Club. She is a volunteer for the Glendora Library Foundation, EYE-DAS boosters, Kiwanis and the Glendora United Methodist Church.

Tricia held numerous social work positions, including neonatal worker at Arcadia Methodist Hospital in Arcadia and member of the board of directors for Citrus Valley Health Partners.

Tricia married Chuck in 1980 after she earned her Masters Degree in Social Work at the University of Louisville. She spent two years in New mexico where she served as a clinical social worker  for an experimental pion radiation therapy program, while Chuck completed a Post Doctorial Fellowship at the Los Alamos National Laboratory.

Tricia and Chuck moved to Southern California in 1980. Tricia served as a clinical social worker for the Children’s Hospital Cystic Fibrosis program, while Chuck served as director of the radiation biology laboratory at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles and as a faculty member at the Keck School of Medicine.

The husband and wife were honored in 2015 with the Glendora Coordinating Council’s Gene Beckwith Humanitarian Award and the 2013 Glendora Hometown Hero Award from the Los Angeles County Fair. They have both received the Glendora PTA’s Honorary Service, Continuing Service, & Child Advocate Awards from the.

The Gomer family was also selected as the Southern California Kiwanis Family of the Year.

Reservations to the 68th Annual Glendora Citizen of the Year Banquet are $50 per person and are required for the event on Thursday, April 21 at the Glendora Country Club. Tickets will not be issued, but those who prepay will be placed on a reservation list. For more information, or to make a reservation, visit the Glendora Chamber of Commerce at 224 N. Glendora Ave., or visit Glendora-Chamber.org/coty. For more information, call 626-963-4128.

*All information courtesy of the Glendora Chamber of Commerce.