MAKING MEMORIES; ALZHEIMER'S WALK RAISES AWARENESS.

Byline: Kevin F. Sherry Daily News Staff Writer

Purple and white balloons floated around San Buenaventura State Beach on Sunday for the sixth annual Alzheimer's Association Memory Walk.

The several hundred participants donned their commemorative T-shirts and posted pictures of loved ones afflicted with the degenerative disease on a ``memory wall.'' Notes were made out to ``our Dad,'' ``my Mom,'' ``Grandma'' and ``Uncle Jack.''

The 5K walk raised $62,095 this year, compared with about $22,000 last year, said Sue Tatangelo, the association's executive director. The money will go to support Alzheimer's patients and their families in Ventura County.

``Everybody here, they've been touched in some way'' by the disease, Tatangelo said. ``This is a real good mix of family caregivers and professionals who have a heart for it.''

This year's walk was dedicated to film editor Bill Lindemann, who was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease in 1989, said his wife, Sue Lindemann. Bill had helped coordinate the event for its first three years, then could only walk in the last three, Sue Lindemann said.

``I feel very strongly that we need to have more awareness of this disease,'' she said. ``We are all at risk, everyone walking the planet.''

The goal of the walk was to draw attention to the cause and to raise money in support of a cure.

``We don't know how it starts,'' Sue Lindemann said. ``We don't know anything.''

The fact that young and old alike participated in the walk was heartening, she said. People need to put a focus on the problems of the elderly, Sue Lindemann said.

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2 Photos

PHOTO (1) Hundreds of walkers, runners and in-line skaters turned out Sunday for the Memory Walk at San Buenaventura State Beach in Ventura.

(2--Ran in Simi Edition only) Photos and loving messages for victims of Alzheimer's disease were displayed Sunday.

Joe Binoya/Special to the Daily News