Page 4 - The Friday Flyer • May 1, 2015

A-4 THE FRIDAY FLYER MAY 1, 2015 Art and Dee Zasio are Fiesta Day Grand Marshals
BY SHARON RICE
EDITOR, THE FRIDAY FLYER
Sitting on Art and Dee Zasio’s back deck, with its expansive views of the Main Lake, it’s impossible to imagine that Dee had to be “dragged to Canyon Lake kicking and screaming.” But what a difference three decades makes. Little could she and Art envision that, a little more than 30 years after moving here, they would be serving as grand marshals in the Fiesta Day Parade.
The couple has earned this honor through many years of involvement and service to the community via a variety of clubs and organizations. Dee is very active in the Woman’s Club, modeling in last week’s Fashion Show and help- ing organize the theme baskets.
She and Art are officers in the Fine Arts Guild: Dee as treasurer and Art as president. In that capacity, they have brought scores of concerts and sum- mer picnics to the community, includ- ing helping to organize the military band concerts in recent years.
They’re also in the Yacht Club, Travel Club and Home Owners Club. Art sings with the Choraleers and is a past member of Canyon Lake Com- munity Theatre. He also served on the POA’s Long Range Planning Commit- tee, where he drew up plans for a 400- seat amphitheater at Holiday Harbor that nearly made it to the top of the list of capital improvements until a differ- ent POA Board of Directors came along with different priorities.
Dee, too, served on a POA commit- tee – the Fiesta Day Committee – work- ing with Joanna Spiller to mark vendor sites and other needed tasks. To this day, she helps sell food in the Woman's Club booth at every Fiesta Day.
Dee was a charter member of the Republican Women’s Club and the In- land Empire Chapter of the Freedoms Foundation. She currently belongs to the Philanthropic Educational Organization (PEO) and serves on the PEO Califor- nia State Scholarship Selection Com- mittee. Clearly committed to education, Dee also is involved with Friends of the Canyon Lake Library and helps with the Read Naturally Program at Tuscany Hills Elementary School.
But not all her involvements are so se- rious. There are many unofficial groups in Canyon Lake that do everything from playing bunco and bridge to dining out and working out.
Two groups of ladies Dee enjoys are the “Reel Chicks” (movie critics) and her “Martini Group.”
At one time she sang for the Riverside Master Chorale, but says she doesn’t have the voice for it anymore. Art still sings for the St. Vincent Ferrar Catho- lic Church choir. That common love for music explains how the couple became interested in helping the Woman’s Club buy a piano for the Lodge in 2001. Mar- lowe and Mavis Schafner instigated a fundraising concert for the piano, and that eventually led to their starting the Fine Arts Guild, of which Art and Dee are charter members.
But the couple hasn’t always been so involved in their community; and per- haps their story can be an inspiration to other residents who are contemplating what to do with their retirement years.
Like so many others, the Zazios ini- tially came to Canyon Lake in the late 70s and early 80s to water ski. As a for- mer U.S. Marines Corps pilot, Art had
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Art and Dee Zasio were excited to learn that they would be the grand marshals in the Fiesta Day Parade on May 23.
PHOTO PROVIDED BY ART ZASIO