LAGUNA BEACH : Service Dedicated to Victims of AIDS

About 150 residents of this city, which has the county’s highest per capita AIDS death rate, gathered in a public memorial service Sunday to mourn those who have died of the disease.

During the multidenominational “Service of Celebration” at the Neighborhood Congregational Church, members of the audience were invited to stand and name loved ones who were AIDS victims.

One by one, 40 names were offered.

Among them was that of Gary Burdick, the longtime companion of Laguna Beach City Councilman Robert F. Gentry. Burdick died Jan. 22, 1989.

Gentry said he hopes that the service will become an annual event.

“This is probably the one public ceremony that is going to do more to educate and express concern and love than anything that we’ve ever done in the city,” Gentry said. “I am deeply moved and touched that the churches of Laguna Beach would respond in such a thoughtful way to the devastation this community has felt for the last few years.”

The service, organized by Laguna Beach religious leaders and the city’s AIDS education task force, also was intended to focus attention on the disease and offer support to those now afflicted with it, organizers said.

“You can kind of just feel there’s apathy setting in around the epidemic,” said Penny Weismuller, AIDS coordinator for Orange County. “Something like this, I think, brings a lot more hope, and perhaps other people will become more willing to become involved.”

According to Kathy Higgens, a statistician for the Orange County Health Care Agency, 158 AIDS cases had been reported in Laguna Beach as of Dec. 31. Of those, 95 people had died.

Laguna Beach’s population is about 26,000, meaning that there were 6.05 AIDS cases for every 1,000 people, Higgens said. Countywide, the rate was 0.50 per 1,000.

During the afternoon service, friends, lovers and family members of people who have died of AIDS prayed, sang hymns and wiped away tears. A group of mothers of AIDS victims lit candles near the podium.

Weeping freely, Juli Queen, 30, of Orange said after the service that she had been overcome with emotion during the memorial and unable to mention the name of her friend, who had lived for a time in Laguna Beach. Queen said she had expected the service to be attended only by gays. “I didn’t realize it would be family, and I think that’s great,” she said. “I didn’t know what to expect.”