Barbara Kazen and Judge Hector J. Liendo have been named Persons of the Year for 2002 by the Catholic War Veterans Post 1908. The award is presented in recognition of the honorees’ involvement with the community of Laredo.

Kazen has been director of Bethany House for a number of years, and her communty involvement includes serving with the Mercy Regional Medical Center Auxiliary, Laredo FEMA board of directors, Laredo Catholic Communications, Inc., United Way of Laredo, Community Action Agency advisory board, Laredo Homeless Coalition, and Blessed Sacrament Parish.

Liendo, a Vietnam veteran with the U.S. Navy, was awarded the Vietnam Campaign Medal, the Combat Action Ribbon, and the Philipino Presidential Citation. His involvement in the community include sponsoring school supply drives, food and winter clothing drives for the elderly and indigent, graffiti clean-ups, painting houses for the elderly, Thanksgiving turkey give-a-aways, Christmas toy drives, collecting donations from the community to buy telephones for the hearing impaired students, and as councilman in District VII, introducing the first neighborhood police station in his district. He was elected Justice of the Peace, Pct 1, Place 1, in 1993.