Two San Diego civic leaders celebrate 90 years young
Two San Diego civic leaders with giant footprints are celebrating their 90th birthdays — and neither seems to be slowing down.
Cecil H. Steppe, San Diego County Probation Department chief for 12 years followed by eight years as the county’s director of social services, and M.C. Madhavan, a longtime leader in the Indian community and San Diego State professor emeritus, are proof that age is merely a state of mind.
On Tuesday, a throng of Steppe’s family, friends and colleagues gathered in front of Gompers Preparatory Academy at 1005 47th St. to witness the unveiling of a street sign. It gave a section of 47th Street, from Hilltop Drive to C Street, the new honorary name of Cecil H. Steppe Street.
Steppe’s son, Russell, explained that, in addition to S.D. City Council approval, neighbors had signed a petition approving the honorary name, which does not change their street addresses.
Sitting next to Steppe in the tented section was former county Supervisor Leon Williams.
“I’m the oldest one here,” said Williams, who turned 100 last July, holding a cupcake bearing Steppe’s image.
The crowd of onlookers, who overflowed the seating area, included several of Steppe’s five adult children, 12 grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren. Among them was his daughter-in-law, Councilwoman Monica Montgomery Steppe, who is married to Steppe’s son, Steven.
“I want you to know that I ain’t done yet,” laughed Steppe, who until recently served on the local Goodwill Industries board. At age 90, he remains chairman of the board of three organizations — Gompers Preparatory Academy (a UC San Diego partnership), Vista Hill Foundation and Mental Health of America San Diego.
Speaker after speaker extolled Steppe’s contributions to the community, noting that if anyone said “Cecil,” everyone knew whom they were talking about.
“When Cecil walks into a
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room, you know a special person has walked into that room,” said Daphyne Watson, executive director of the local office of Mental Health America. “If there are challenges and issues that arise for me, I call him up and he helps me get through it . ... He also is a champion for really good quality mental health.”
She added that she wishes she could do today half of what Steppe is doing at age 90.
“He’s changed a lot of young kids’ lives,” noted Preston Bankhead, referring to Steppe’s involvement and mentorship in the Chollas View United Methodist Church.
Steppe remained humble in his acknowledgment, saying he was never motivated by having such recognition. “I did it because it was the right thing to do, and my Lord and Savior gave me the strength to do it.”
Steppe further vowed: “I’ll be here until I’m 103,” noting that he made that commitment to his family. But he stressed that age doesn’t really mean anything — being active does, and you can do that at any age. “Stop
sitting and drinking coffee. Get up and mobilize,” he preached.
As Steppe was celebrating his actual birthday on Tuesday, preparations were under way for a large, belated 90th birthday party for M.C. Madhavan, who turned 90 on Dec. 17. The celebration will take place at 5 p.m. Feb. 26 at the Royal India Banquet Hall, 8990 Miramar Road.
Proceeds from the ticketed event (www.sdias.info/ madhavan90) will help fund the Mahatma Gandhi Scholarship program for high school students, which Madhavan initiated in 1984.
Just as Steppe has been involved in the Chollas View community, Madhavan has been active in the Indian community of about 40,000 in San Diego, and in programs that help Americans better understand his native country of India.
He has been involved in the United Nations, the World Bank and taught and lectured around the globe, serving as a Fulbright professor in five countries.
Madhavan was the founding
chairman of SDSU’s Asian Studies department and directed the university’s Center for Asian Studies for nearly a decade. He also launched an India study abroad program in 2009 and chaired it until he was 83.
Even today, he is heavily involved in the S.D. Indian American Society (SDIAS), which he founded in 1984 to administer scholarships and to enhance relations between the United States and
India. Dr. Jonas Salk inaugurated the society and delivered its first Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Lecture here.
“He remains extremely active,” says SDIAS volunteer Prathiba Goyal, vice president of the local Federation of Indians Association. “He is very much involved and always willing to help out.”
Goyal says Madhavan has been her guide and mentor since she moved here
from India in 2007. “His memory is so sharp.”
At 86, he founded both a smart village development program and a computer training school in his birthplace of Kandramanickam, India.
Madhavan says he feels no different today at 90 then he did at 16, when he became headmaster of an evening education program for underprivileged youth in India.
“I had the good fortune to be able to help people, and I’m very grateful for the opportunities I’ve had,” he says.
He’ll return to his hometown in April for an 11-day festival he attends in India almost every year.
Madhavan still is active. He is donating land he owns there for creation of a skills development center to serve villagers in the surrounding area.
Meanwhile, the Mahatma Gandhi Scholarship fund here has grown to $100,000 a year and is awarded to numerous local students in financial need.
“This city has been so good to me,” Madhavan says.
And he has been good to this city.