Guienze also worked for the Justice Department from 1955 to 1979. As a social worker employed by the Federal Bureau of Prisons, he opened halfway houses in Chicago, Washington, and New York City; served as an assistant warden in Milan, Mich. (where he met and married his wife, Sharron, also a social worker), and was an executive assistant to the director of the bureau's regional office in Philadelphia.
"I kind of put painting aside and switched to photography," Guienze said, ''because I no longer had the time for painting."
Since then, Guienze, 60, has been achieving recognition as an artistic photographer, with a purchase award from the Perkins Art Center in Moorestown, a third place in the Galeria Triangle National Photography Exhibition in Washington, and feature placement in local and national competitive exhibitions to his credit as well as the purchase award from Cherry Hill.
That photo, which depicts a woman whose face reflects her "quiet dignity," was unveiled at ceremonies Jan. 3.
Guienze took the picture of his grandmother in 1981 on a trip to Beaumont, Texas.
"That was a year before she died," Guienze said. "Her name was Emma Guienze. She was born in Franklin, La., in 1887. My mother always called her Miss Emma, but my sister and I called her Big Mama. She's my roots. She was a very simple, very sweet lady."
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When Sheetal Chhaya was announced as the winner of the top academic award at the Camden County "Young Woman of the Year" pageant, "I thought, 'This is all I want - to be recognized for something,' " said the Voorhees teenager. When she was announced as the overall winner, "I was totally surprised," she said.
Chhaya, 17, is the second senior from Eastern Regional High School to win the honor of representing Camden County. She was chosen from 19 entrants throughout the county. In addition to winning academic honors, she performed a classical Indian dance to the music of a sitar, which she choreographed herself.
"I've been dancing since I was about six," Chhaya said. "I learned from a woman who taught dancing as a way to put American-born Indian girls in touch with their Indian heritage. Now I'm choreographing dances with a group of friends, and six to eight of us perform at special events, like Indian Republic Day."
Chhaya, Eastern's "Student of the Month" for January, also plays varsity tennis, is secretary of the National Honor Society, belongs to Interact, LOV&E Kids and the World Affairs Council, is youth coordinator of an Indian youth group, and serves as membership chairwoman of the Future Nurses Club at Kennedy Memorial Hospital in Stratford, where she is also a Kennedy Medical Scholar.
"I've applied to Brown University - I want to be a pediatric psychologist," Chhaya said. "I'm interested in children; I love being with them, playing with them and enjoying the way they think. I like looking into what other people think, too; the human mind is endlessly fascinating."
One influence on her choice of careers was her father, Kirit, a gastroenterologist with a practice in Swedesboro. Her mother, Niti, is a computer programmer/analyst, and her brother, Nihar, is a junior at Eastern.
Even if Chhaya doesn't win the state pageant, which was scheduled for yesterday, she believes she has gained something from participating in the ''Young Woman of the Year" program.
"I've made some friends that I think I'll keep forever. That's the best part," she said.
Dr. Mitchell J. Fink, recently installed as president of the New Jersey Academy of Optometry, says he has never been a proponent of extended-wear contact lenses.
"Because most advertising claims say the lenses can be worn for 30 days at a stretch, most patients tend to leave the lenses on their eyes for that time," he said. "The potential for harm to the eye is therefore greater than it would be if the lenses were removed. My patients are instructed never to leave the lenses on their eyes for longer than seven days, under any circumstances."
Fink sees more than 100 patients a week in Willingboro, where he has been in private practice for almost 20 years. Although he is a primary care optometrist, his recognized area of interest and expertise is contact lens practice.
He has taught contact lens practice at the Pennsylvania College of Optometry in Philadelphia since 1971. His responsibilities include lecturing, teaching in a clinical setting, and supervising students on internship experiences throughout the world.
"In their fourth year, students serve a 12-week internship in contact lens practice at various centers in the United States and abroad," Fink said. "We generally have about 40 students per quarter in sites here, in Hawaii, Germany, England, Israel, Australia, New Zealand - everywhere except the Orient, I think."
Fink, 44, graduated from the Pennsylvania College of Optometry in 1969, then served two years in Vietnam with the Army, providing routine eye care, before opening his practice. He was attracted to contact lenses "because of the enjoyment patients derived, not only from being able to see better, but also from the cosmetic enhancement."
In conjunction with his private practice and teaching, Fink also has been involved with many federal Food and Drug Administration investigations. He has published several articles and lectured internationally as a result of his research.
"In late 1972 or early 1973, I was approached by a contact lens product manufacturer to test enzymatic tablets for cleaning lenses," he said. "They wanted to know how effective they were, at what intervals they worked best, that sort of thing. After that, I was asked by another manufacturer to test the oxygen permeability of new lenses that were being developed. Now I'm doing a lot with daily-wear disposable lenses."
Those, he said, are the future.
"Most contact wearers experience adverse effects from constantly wearing lenses that are in poor condition, either from neglect or just from deterioration. If manufacturers can lower the price, which is now about double that of the average soft lens, I think consumers will really like them."
In addition to becoming president of the state Academy of Optometry, Fink was awarded diplomate status by the Cornea and Contact Lens Section of the American Academy of Optometry in 1978.
He and his wife, Karen, live in Moorestown with their children, Amanda, 17, and Jonathan, 16.
When James T. Ryan finished his three-year tour as a Marine sergeant during the Korean War, he came home, worked a couple of years in the family heating business, then decided to take the State Police test for the single opening in the Maple Shade Police Department.
He finished first among 13 applicants and was hired in 1962 as a patrolman.
Police work, he said, "wasn't a lifelong ambition at that point," but one thing led to another and he began to get interested in the job.
"I got very involved," he said, enrolling for courses at Temple University and Gloucester County College, and he began moving up through the ranks.
He made sergeant in 1970, lieutenant in 1973, captain in 1975 and chief in 1981.
In December, Ryan was recognized by his peers when he was installed as president of the Burlington County Association of Chiefs of Police, the culmination of his 27-year career.
Police work has changed through the years, he said.
When he came aboard in Maple Shade, there were 13 policemen on the force; today, he oversees 30 officers.
"It has become a lot more sophisticated - the training, the schooling," he said. "The officers today have to have a lot more expertise. We were a small town when I came on the force. We had several thousand people, but we had a small-town makeup. No longer. All the (neighboring) communities are now running together. It's like one great city from Philadelphia to Atlantic City, and we're right in the hub of it. Route 73 runs through the township and our population has probably quadrupled.
"We do so many more things than in the past. There are no more slow periods. All three shifts are busy and there is no slow season."
As head of the chiefs' group, the position is not a ceremonial one.
That, he said, is because "you're a leader of an organization of leaders." He coordinates the committees that solve problems within the county and the training at the county police academy. "It's a working organization, not just a social organization, and we take on all the problems that confront law enforcement in the county."
A native of Maple Shade, Ryan, 56, and his wife, Barbara, a self-employed beautician, raised eight children, including David, 29, who is a patrolman on the Maple Shade force.
Today, one of the chief's "great passions" is golf.
"Friends said give it a try. I thought it was a foolish game - until I got involved."
NOTEWORTHY: Three Moorestown High School students were accepted recently for All-South Jersey Band and Orchestra. Robin Segal (clarinet) made All-South Jersey Band; Michael Liao (violin) and Shelley Krasnick (string bass) made All-South Jersey Orchestra. . . . Eleven Cherry Hill High School West students were chosen for similar musical ensembles. For All-South Jersey Wind Ensemble - Russell Feinberg and Adam Genn (clarinet) and Leslie Meyer (French horn); for All-South Jersey Symphonic Band - David Watson (oboe), Abbe Sloan, Jeff Wenzel and James Nicholson (clarinet), Mike Escuti (trumpet), Jamie Exley (tuba), Samara Aberman (mallets) and Jennifer Renshaw (alto saxophone).
