Three longtime community volunteers — Carl Kruse, Harvey Levine and Alan Turner — have been selected for induction into the Rancho Bernardo Hall of Fame as the Class of 2025.
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Carl Kruse: Outstanding leadership in RB including RB Rotary Club, as President, establishing a program for Abraxis at-risk students; RB Chamber of Commerce; RBBA; Poway Center of Performing Arts; and more.
Harvey Levine: Outstanding leadership in RB including Friends of the RB Library – Chamber Concert Series, as Director for 14 years, at no cost to the Library or Patrons; and Master Association - CABH.
Alan Turner: Outstanding leadership in RB including RB Rotary Club, as President; RB Grad Nite, first as regular volunteer and then Chair; and Bridge Club of North County President; and more.
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Here is a photo of the RB Hall of Fame members who attended the 2025 Gala.
(Photo provided by Elizabeth Marie Himchak/Rancho Bernardo News Journal)
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“We are very excited about our new inductees becoming members,” said President Debbie Kurth, a 2019 inductee.
The trio were honored during the organization’s annual dinner, set for Aug. 16 at Silvergate Rancho Bernardo.
“It was such a huge success at Silvergate the last few years and we were thrilled to hold it there again,” Kurth said. “It was a special night for all who attended.”
Since it was formed in 1974, the organization has honored 128 individuals with membership for their volunteer work that improved Rancho Bernardo’s development and enhanced its residents’ quality of life, organizers said. To be considered, nominees have to be living and give six or more years of outstanding volunteer service to the community. That must include at least three years in a leadership role that resulted in “significant contributions to Rancho Bernardo,” according to the nomination form. It could not include any service or leadership that was religious or political in nature, or for which payment was received.
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The following information was provided by Elizabeth Marie Himchak | ehimchak@pomeradonews.com | The San Diego Union-Tribune
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Carl Kruse
Kruse, a Poway resident for 50 years, was nominated by 2009 inductee Marty Judge, who noted Kruse’s efforts in the Rancho Bernardo Sunrise Rotary Club, former Rancho Bernardo Chamber of Commerce, creation of the Poway Center for the Performing Arts and forming the former Rancho Bernardo Business Association. “I knew about the nomination, which in itself was a complete surprise,” Kruse said. “I have been involved for many years in the Rancho Bernardo/Poway communities and there are some pretty heavy hitters as members of the Hall of Fame.
“To be approved, I am ecstatic and humbled because I guess what I did in the past meant something to people,” he said. “I am pleased and honored to be part of this well-meaning, elite group.”
Kruse said he and his wife of 56 years, Mary Jane, moved to Poway from the Sacramento area for his job in banking, from which he retired in 2008. He is a Northern California native who served two years in the Army after graduating from the University of California, Santa Barbara. He also served on the Poway City Council from 1982 to 1990 and another 1 ½ years starting in 2010. He was Poway’s mayor in 1986 and 1988.
His association with Rotary International began with his father, Bud Kruse, who had been a Rotarian for over 50 years. As his high school’s student body president, Kruse said he attended Rotary meetings. Years later, as a banker, he was encouraged to become involved in civic organizations so joining Rotary was a natural fit.
“I know the spirit and influence of Rotary, which has stuck with me. I love the organization and what it does locally and globally,” Kruse said.
In the nomination, Judge listed Kruse’s term as the 2006-2007 RB Sunrise Rotary president, during which time the club established a program of tutors, scholarships and financial support for Abraxas High School’s at-risk and homeless students.
“The coordinated program … for (Abraxas) students increased the likelihood they would graduate and become productive citizens of RB or other communities,” Judge wrote.
As for other Rotary efforts over the years, Kruse led a team to help recover items of value from Rancho Bernardo homes burned in the 2007 Witch Creek fire. He was also recognized by Rotary for leading a team of six Rotarians who administered polio vaccines to children in India. Other projects included organizing a team to build houses for indigent people in Mexico.
Kruse was also the region’s Rotary governor, supervising its 67 clubs.
He was the 2002 chairman of the RB Chamber, during which time the RB Alive expo was expanded. It also held a golf tournament to help education programs in Poway Unified School District and he helped organize a job fair that drew 1,200 job seekers and 46 employers.
When the chamber became a regional organization, in 2006 Kruse was among four RB leaders to create the Rancho Bernardo Business Association in order to fill a void they saw due to the chamber’s new focus.
“Without his (stature), his drive and his diplomacy, the idea of the RBBA would not have come to fruition,” Judge wrote.
As for the PCPA, Kruse was on its executive committee from 1988 to 1990, during which time the six-member group oversaw the 800-seat center’s creation. In the 35 years since, an estimated 1 million patrons and students have attended its performances, in addition to countless groups using it as an arts venue.
“The Center has become an icon of theater arts in the region and has been a major contributor to students building theatrical careers,” Judge wrote.
Kruse said he is particularly proud of how the PCPA turned out because it serves as a cultural and educational entity for the region.
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Harvey Levine
Harvey Levine was nominated by Jan Goldsmith for his efforts with the Friends of the Rancho Bernardo Library, especially its Chamber Concert Series; and leadership on the Community Association of Bernardo Heights board as its treasurer from 2009 to 2015 and the Fairway Pointe Homeowners Association boards as its president from 2006 to 2012.
“I was pleased,” Levine said of his selection. “I knew I had been nominated. … I get a great deal of satisfaction doing what I can to support various activities in the community. To be recognized is always pleasing, I appreciate it and it encourages me to continue doing more.”
Levine and his wife of 66 years, Judy, moved to Rancho Bernardo in 1999 from Saratoga Springs, New York.
“We came for the sunshine, our daughter and two grandchildren,” Levine said, noting their initial plan was to only be in San Diego during the winter. “We found it to be so wonderful that we moved our primary home here.”
Their daughter, Becky Constantine, and her family live in the University Town Center area. Their other two daughters are in New York.
With his love of the outdoors that includes hiking, tennis, bicycling and driving a convertible, Levine said San Diego’s weather is better suited than New York’s.
For 12 years, the couple spent part of the year in San Diego, then drove a motor home cross country to New York, where they kept their other home.
“We had beautiful adventures on our annual trip to two beautiful areas,” Levine said.
Levine said his career was as a project management consultant, mostly retiring by 2010. Since 2017, he has been an award-winning columnist for the Rancho Bernardo News Journal and Poway News Chieftain.
It was not long after moving to RB that Levine and his wife joined the Friends board and she became its president.
“She was a retired library consultant for the New York State Library in Albany and a library director for a few libraries,” Levine said.
From 2010 to 2024 he directed the Friends’ concert series.
“(Harvey) took over an existing program and elevated … (it) from amateur to professional level,” Goldsmith wrote, noting the concert series financially runs solely on donations. “(He) fulfilled (a) need for RB Library to provide programs for the community at no cost to the library or to the patron.”
Levine’s other Friends efforts included being its finance and music chairman for six years (2014-20). Many years ago he was on the leadership team that developed the RB Library’s free Discovery Concert Series, which is not under the Friends’ umbrella.
Learning that Rancho Bernardans appreciate classical music, he said providing free professional performances without them having to drive downtown has been his motivation.
“It is a tremendous win-win situation,” he said. “A lot of people in RB do not have access to good classical music if they have to travel, especially in the evening. This is the same kind of music they would hear in a symphony hall or university campus, but we are bringing it to RB. It’s really a coup that we can put them on without charging due to the support of donors and sponsors.”
He said that financial support has led to the concert series supporting other Friends programming.
As for his HOA volunteerism, Levine said that was due to “having a habit of getting involved in things when I have skills that can benefit the community.”
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Alan Turner
Alan Turner was nominated by 2022 inductee Mike Fuqua for his leadership in Rotary Club of Rancho Bernardo, the Bridge Club of North County, Rancho Bernardo High’s Grad Nite festivities and the Seven Oaks Community Center’s HOA.
“It is really nice to be honored because I love helping Rancho Bernardo, so being singled out is great,” he said.
Turner, his wife of 48 years, Hazel, and their two children, Stuart and Christine, moved to Rancho Bernardo’s Westwood neighborhood from the United Kingdom 28 years ago due to his career. At the time, he worked for a software company in London which merged with a company in the Miramar area.
“Our kids were middle school and high school age, so we were keen to come over and find a good education location,” Turner said. “PUSD had a good education reputation, we identified with the cost of living that was similar to London and it was either Poway or Rancho Bernardo.”
“RB has definitely been a very nice home for us,” Turner said. About 12 years ago he and his wife moved to RB’s Seven Oaks neighborhood.
A few years ago Turner said he became a part-time consultant and last year he retired. Now he volunteers more hours than he worked, he said. He estimates his time is split evenly between Rotary and the bridge club.
The couple has stayed in the U.S. instead of returning to England because there “people retire to (countries) where it is nice and warm, so we are happy to retire here,” he said.
It was due to his wife that Turner said he started learning bridge about seven years ago. She is a skilled player who joined the club — then meeting in Escondido — shortly after moving to RB. As an advanced club-level player, she teaches others. Now an intermediate level player himself, Turner said he used his administrative skills to help the club’s board. He was president from 2019 to 2024 and instrumental in getting the club’s 400-plus members into a new home for their games at San Diego Oasis’ RB center.
When their son returned from his 1999 Grad Nite “effusive about it,” the couple decided to get involved. They joined the committee the following year and even after their daughter graduated in 2001, Turner stayed through 2005. He was Grad Nite chair for the last three of those years.
“We made good friends who continued as well,” he said. “It is social and hard work … but we enjoyed it.”
Turner joined the Seven Oaks HOA board in 2016 and led the group from 2019 to 2020. It is through the HOA that he became aware of Rotary because the Rotarians held community cleanups.
That project inspired Turner to join the Rotary Club of Rancho Bernardo, he said. While the 2022-23 president he was honored for club and district-level efforts to promote mental health initiatives when their district governor chose the topic as a focus.
Turner has continued advocating by being the vice chair of the worldwide Rotary Action Group on Mental Health Initiatives. For three years he has been the club’s National Alliance on Mental Illness walk event coordinator, which has about 3,000 participants annually. He has also worked with Poway Unified to provide toolkits to elementary school counselors and special education teams so they can have discussions with students about depression, anxiety and loneliness.
“(He is) creating awareness in the community about behavioral and mental health issues, and to reduce the stigma,” Fuqua wrote.
Turner’s leadership efforts in Rotary expanded to this year chairing its upcoming Vines & Vittles fundraiser, set for May 31.
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Following is a collection of photos taken at the Gala: (Photos provided by Elizabeth Marie Himchak/Rancho Bernardo News Journal)
Nominator Marty Judge, inductee Carl Kruse, RBHOF President Debbie Kurth, Assemblymember Darshana Patel and
Alicia Gregory representing City Councilmember Marni von Wilpert.
Nominator Jan Goldsmith, inductee Harvey Levine, RBHOF President Debbie Kurth, Assemblymember Darshana Patel and
Alicia Gregory representing City Councilmember Marni von Wilpert.
Nominator Mike Fuqua, inductee Alan Turner, RBHOF President Debbie Kurth, Assemblymember Darshana Patel and
Alicia Gregory representing City Councilmember Marni von Wilpert.
The 2025 Rancho Bernardo Hall of Fame inductees — Carl Kruse, Harvey Levine and Alan Turner.
Judy Levine and her husband, 2025 inductee Harvey Levine.
The Turner family — Hazel Turner, 2025 inductee Alan Turner, Christine Testa and Stefan Testa.
The Kruse family — Niki Voeller, 2025 inductee Carl Kruse, Mary Jane Kruse and Kate, John and Tisha Voeller.
RB Hall of Fame President and 2019 inductee Debbie Kurth, 1998 inductee Nick Anastasopoulos and Vickie Anastasopoulos.
Bianca Parra, Alex Lawn, 2016 inductee Scott Lawn, Cindy Pearson and George Harris.
Connie Gaasch, Lineal Pelton and 2024 inductee Reed Reichert.
Christine and Jan Goldsmith.
Sandie Dewane, Carol Corey and Veronica Hall-Rizzo.
Charlene and David Zettel with 2019 inductee Don Schmidt.