Interesting People
Aiman Nasrawi has Grand Designs for Aquamarine Jewelers
Aquamarine Jewelers’ motto is “Your jeweler for life”—and owner Aiman Nasrawi means it.
“My business is built on trust,” says the master jeweler, designer and store proprietor, who recently relocated his 25-year-old business to Five Points Plaza in Carmichael.
It’s all Greek to Jay Greenwood
When people ask Jay Greenwood how long it took him to write his new historical fiction novel “Race to Marathon,” his answer is simple: a little over half a century.
The Oregon native credits his “fantastic English teachers” in high school with first piquing his interest in Ancient Greek literature and history. As a freshman, Greenwood recounts that he was assigned “The Odyssey” in class—which he calls “a very heavy lift for a country boy from Oregon.” But when he managed to finish the book and realized he’d just read one of the greatest works ever written, he was hooked—so much so that it changed the course of his career
Movin’ To The Music
Dolly Rizzo, Los Angeles-born and a Sacramento resident for 20 years, danced on TV’s “Soul Train” in 1983–84. “It was a party, a long one, since we filmed all weekend long,” she says.
In ways big and small, that experience of rehearsal and live filming prepared her to create Soul Strength Dance, a dynamic class she teaches at the Sacramento Central branch of the YMCA. Rizzo has taught up to three classes a week, while working as an administrative coordinator at the YMCA’s Midtown site.
She Takes the Cake
Little did she know as a student at McClatchy High School, Carol Clevenger would spend the next 32 years of her life just a few blocks away.
As the head decorator at Freeport Bakery in Land Park, Clevenger rejoined the team in 1988, not quite a year after Marlene and Walter Goetzeler bought the bakery (Clevenger also worked for the previous owner). Three decades later, she’ll hand over her spatula this month.
You Got to Have Friends
In the 1980s, only 10 federally funded research centers for Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia existed—and East Sacramento resident (not to mention former Arden Junior High and Rio Americano grad) David Troxell got to spearhead one of them.
“I was the person in charge of creating a network of services at the University of Kentucky Alzheimer’s Research Center,” Troxell says. “Of course, this was in the mid-80s and there was such a stigma around the disease.
Artful Surroundings
Past the glass lobby doors, you’re greeted by stunning artwork from famed San Francisco artist William Gatewood (1943–1994). Large images of kimonos and Japanese screens, enhanced by splashes of gold and silver leaf, are displayed on the walls.
Further into the building, take a stroll along the Sacramento River Delta, courtesy of landscape paintings by legendary local artist Gregory Kondos.
