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Biography
Many people are responsible for the St. Francis Dam Disaster site in Saugus becoming a National Monument
within the last year, but two people stand out: Alan Pollack and Dianne Erskine-Hellrigel. It was during a trip
some years ago to a similar disaster site back East, which was a full-blown National Memorial, that Alan real-
ized the 400-plus residents of the Santa Clara River Valley who perished in the wake of L.A.’s thirst for water
– including nearly the entire student bodies of three Saugus elementary schools – had been unduly swept under
the rug of history. So, he identified partners, created a coalition, and ultimately testified before Congress in
support of his brainchild – the St. Francis Dam Disaster National Memorial and National Monument – which
legislation was signed into law in 2019. Today, Pollack heads the Foundation board that is raising funds to cre-
ate a physical memorial to honor the victims, tell L.A.’s water story, and show how the disaster impacted future
dam construction throughout the United States and beyond. As longtime president of the SCV Historical Society
and a 2016 nominee for Man of the Year (when the National Memorial was but a dream), Alan’s work to pre-
serve the history and share the fascinating stories of our community are legend. He has written monthly articles
and co-authored books on local history, contributed to the SCVHistory.com archive, established a local history
speaker series at the Santa Clarita Public Libraries, delivered lectures to numerous organizations, promoted
SCV history in the local and national media, and advocated for passage of a Historical Preservation Ordinance
that received City Council approval in 2013. A Newhall resident since 1991, Alan developed an interest in his-
tory as a young boy in the San Fernando Valley when he began collecting newspapers that chronicled important
historical events that occurred during the turbulent 1960s. His collection grew into a world-class assortment of
original newspapers dating back to the 1600s and covering most of the significant events in American history as
they were originally reported. Alan received a B.S. degree in biochemistry from UCLA where he was a member
of Phi Beta Kappa honor society; he attended medical school at the University of Texas Southwestern Medi-
cal School in Dallas and made the Alpha Omega Alpha medical honor society. He did his residency in Internal
Medicine at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center and has been an internal medicine physician at Kaiser Permanente
in Panorama City for 30 years. He is the primary care physician for approximately 2,000 patients from both
the SFV and SCV and has been honored with Kaiser’s Leon Cohen Award for exceptional contributions to his
colleagues and patient care.

Dave Reeves

Owner, Reaves Complete Auto Center
Nominating Organization
Rotary Club of Santa Clarita Valley
Organizations
Rotary Club of Santa Clarita 2009, Board of Boys & Girls Club,
Boy Scouts, Lloyd Sreden Scholarship Board,
COC Scholarship, Triumph, Wish, SCV Senior Center,
Beacon House for Men
Organization Impact
Continues to organize, chair, and/or volunteer, at every event. Organized and planned the first Rotary and Boys
& Girls Club Golf Tournament in Dec. 2019 which raised over $10,000 for each organization
Other Contributions
Organizational skills, leadership.guidance, goal setting, management, follow-through in service to Rotary and
was named 2019 Volunteer of the Year by the Boys & Girls Club.
Biography
Born in San Fernando Valley. Attended Poly High School in Arleta, Calif. Opened Reeves Complete Auto in
April 2008. Joined Rotary in 2009. Married to Cindy and has 3 boys. Has served as Sergeant-of-Arms and
President-Elect of Rotary June 2020. Dave also organized a golf tournament in December 2019, which was held
to benefit the Rotary Club and the SCV Boys & Girls Club. The first-time event raised close to $25,000 with
proceeds going to the Boys & Girls Club and SCV Rotary. In the mid 80s, Dave began building race engines,