Marin Women's Hall of Fame

     Toni epitomizes the terms self-help, client rights, empowerment, advocacy, risk-taking and visionary.  Her fifty years of volunteer service began in her children's elementary school.  From there she went on to volunteer with the Marin Public Health Department.  Her work has been a sparkplug, igniting others to action.  She participated in the formation of four continuing empowerment programs:  Community Mental Health (CMH) Companion Program, the Office of the Patient Advocate for CMH, the Network of Mental Health Clients/Enterprise Resource Center and Labor Support Services.     

     Challenging the status quo has been a hallmark of Toni's efforts.  As a supporter of individuals in the mental health system and of women, she has investigated ways to make sure that the projects she works on can be institutionalized and maintained despite sometimes daunting obstacles.  Her outrage at denial of basic rights to women prisoners in the Marin County jail led her to persuade the local Red Cross to sponsor a program addressing those needs.  That is just one example of her response to unfairness toward those who are the most powerless, disadvantaged, stigmatized and marginalized.   
     For fifty years, Toni has served the needs of others with her husband, children and grandchildren.  Her legacy is one of tremendous courage, tenacity and persistence in speaking out on behalf of those who do not have a voice or whose voice is often not heard.

Read the extended biography by Eleanor Kellogg Smith.

     Anne was an ardent feminist whose indomitable spirit and political skills advanced the cause of human rights for everyone.   She broke ground in the women's movement. As a member of Marin's first Women's Commission in 1974, she started a county process that brought women's issues to public attention.  As Chair of the Commission's Affirmative Action Committee, she led the fight that resulted in Marin County hiring female department directors.     

     Anne was constantly testing limits by venturing into areas dominated by men.  Her vision of what women could accomplish encouraged them to venture goals previously thought unattainable.  She believed in making the world a better place for women and had a passion for getting good women into elected office.     

     As part of her multitude of civic activities, she served as Executive Director of Falkirk, formed the Marin Arts Council and became its first Executive Director after a nation-wide search.  She broke ground as the first female President of the Boyd Science Museum.     

     She founded and empowered several organizations that continue to advance the cause of equality and access for all.  As a skillful and organized administrator she served our community as well as the State Bar of California with verve and focus.  She did all this along with her responsibilities to her husband and four children.     

     Anne is remembered as a woman of great style and panache, a witty and loving person.

     Faye's passion -- helping create communities of justice, equality and peace for ourselves and the earth -- is clear to all who know her.  She works to change existing policies and resource allocation systems so that access and opportunity are provided to those who are most often neglected, especially women, children and the poor.  She strives to eliminate all forms of oppressive discrimination.    
     From her roots in rural Arkansas to the past 25 years in Marin, whether as attorney, feminist,  community activist, mother, educator or former Peace Corps leader, Faye has excelled.     

     Honored by her years of Peace Corps service, Faye's community development, planning and policy skills have served the legal and non-profit community, including Legal Aid of Marin, Marin Abused Women's Services, Marin's Juvenile Justice Commission, YWCA Legal Clinic, Marin County Bar Association, Marin County Women Lawyers, and the Triangle Alliance of Marin, a gay and lesbian political action committee.  Within these contexts, Faye helped to assist victims of domestic violence, improve access to the legal system, provide pro bono legal assistance, including legal clinics in Spanish, improve conditions at Juvenile Hall and Community Court School Program, and empower lesbians and gays to become involved in the political process.     

     Convinced that "we the people" hold the power, Faye does not sit quietly in the face of injustice, but chooses to act and urges others to act so that we all  have a future with integrity, justice, equality and peace.

Read the extended biography by Shari Rice

     Phyllis has the extraordinary ability to visualize possibilities, and organize and orchestrate vision to reality.     

     During the past 40 years, Phyllis has committed herself to volunteer community service through leadership in supporting existing cultural institutions and developing new ones.  She has worked to further understanding about the role that art plays in quality of life.  By learning a new vocabulary to communicate with businessmen and politicians, she has been successful in advancing her culture goals.  She welcomes obstacles and challenging barriers.     

     Among her many accomplishments is her 32-year leadership of the Marin Ballet Association during which time she aided in its growth and development, including the purchase of its building.  She helped salvage and spearheaded the building of the Civic Center Memorial Theater and served as founding member of what was to become the Marin County Fair and Parks Commission.     

     A fine visual artist herself, she has designed and produced original posters for the Marin Ballet, "Dance Through Time", and  the International Dance Alliance.  Her leadership and fundraising efforts have enabled the development of many cultural organizations including the Art Works Downtown, Youth in Arts and Marin Arts Council.    
     Phyllis' two daughters, four granddaughters, their friends, ballet school graduates, artists, co-workers and friends declare her as an important role model in their lives.  She believes that her most lasting contributions to the community are her four children who are making significant contributions to the community on their own. 

Red the extended biography by Barbara Euser. 

     Victoria has been a strong and consistent voice for women of color and other disenfranchised people in pursuit of quality education.  She is passionate about promoting education and opportunities for women.     

     As a 20-year old immigrant, not content with the status quo of deplorable conditions for minorities, she committed herself to becoming educated and to empowering others to continue similar work.  She has had a prestigious career in college administration, activism, fundraising, program organization and humanism.  Her self-fulfillment comes from helping to improve the quality of life and developing a cultural identity for Latinos in the Bay area.  The means by which she achieves objectives are numerous, varied and awe-inspiring.     

     She was one of the two founders and Directors of the educational component of the Latino Film Festival of Marin;  she has initiated numerous programs at the college that address needs of minorities, as will as founding the Latino Educational Council and Hispanic Cultural Center.  While much of her activism is focused around her profession, she understands the experiences that Latinos, African-Americans and other minorities have in working to carve out a life in Marin County.  She accepts people as they are and also knows what a difference a friendly hand can make.  She does her work quietly and asks nothing in return.    

     Victoria provides a legacy of success by courage, determination, perseverance and pizzazz.

Read the extended biography by Barbara Euser.

     Amid the howling mobs and fiery storm of the 1957 battle to integrate Little Rock Central High School, Melba Pattillo Beals and eight other young warriors risked their lives to change history.  The U.S. Congress voted Beals and her "Little Rock Nine" companions the Congressional Gold Medal for their contribution to the Civil Rights movement.   Only 318 Americans have received this award.    
     Warrors Don't Cry is Beals' chronicle of the school integration battle.  Warriors won the 1994 American Library Association Award for Nonfiction Book of the Year, was named a Notable Book of the year by the American Booksellers Association, and received the coveted Robert F. Kennedy Award for books that reflect RFK's "concern for the poor and the powerless, his struggle for honest and evenhanded justice, and his faith that a free democracy can act to remedy disparities of power and opportunity."     
     Another focus of Ms. Beals' life has been her work with Aid to the Adoption of Special Children (AASK).  During her 20-year tenure on its board of directors, more than 10,000 special needs children have been placed with adoptive families.     

     Now a Professor heading Dominican University's Communications program, Ms. Beals is a sought-after motivational speaker.  She has appeared on NPR's "Fresh Air," on "Oprah," and C-Span's "Booknotes."  She has been featured in USA Today, People, and Newsweek.     

     Ms. Beals surprised all her friends and colleagues when at age fifty she adopted three-year-old twin boys.  She gives praise and thanks to her grown daughter, Kellie, for helping her to raise Matthew and Evan, now aged

Read more about this remarkable woman through this web site. http://www.mccsc.edu/~jcmslib/mlk/beals/family.htm

     Lois Barth Epstein is a limitless woman who excels as a physician and scientist; as wife, mother and grandmother; as a community leader; and now as an artist.     

     A 1959 graduate of Harvard Medical School, Lois achieved international recognition for accomplishments in medical research.  As UCSF Professor of Pediatrics and Director of the interferon and Tumor Immunology Laboratory in the Cancer Research Institute, Dr. Epstein pioneered in interferon, cytokine, and Down syndrome research.  Her many honors include a National Institutes of Health MERIT award, the Lifetime Achievement in Research Award from the International Society for Interferon and Cytokine Research, and an honorary Doctor of Science degree.  The author of more than 130 scientific publications, she has served on advisory committees to NIH and on editorial boards of scientific journals.  She has lectured and chaired scientific sessions around the world.    
    
     Lois mentored students and younger faculty throughout her career.  She was Chair of the Mentoring Committee of Women in Cancer Research.  Service to community has been equally important.  She has served as Chair of Endowment of the Marin Symphony, President of the Board of the Dance Association, and currently serves on the Art and Endowment committees of the Peninsula Library Foundation Board of the Belvedere-Tiburon Library.     

     Married for 45 years to a fellow physician, Lois has been a steadfast presence in his life.  She takes great joy in the lives of her daughter, her three sons and their wives, her five grandchildren, and her extended family.  Lois prepared for retirement by training in the art of glass.  She now does mosaics and flame working in her home studio.

Read about her experiences as an honoree.  

      Kate Hacker touched hundreds of lives as a compassionate teacher and an inspiring community organizer.  She improved the lives of children - especially teenagers - by connecting them with their community.     

     Kate Hacker taught early childhood development at Santa Rosa Junior College, in childcare programs, and ran children's drama workshops.  She served as Director of the Campaign for a Healthier Community for Children (CHCC) from 1987 until her death.     

     The creation of the Music Mentor Program in 1993 was the high point of Kate's professional life.   This innovative program featured monthly concerts by local, teenage bands and drew crowds of six hundred.  Despite initial objections from local authorities, Kate persisted.  She took on her community's fear of teenage energy and made from it an outlet for teenage creativity.  Kate believed the only way teens would learn responsibility was by having them handle the concerts themselves.  They interviewed bands, promoted the concerts, performed, and even managed security.  By teaching them responsibility, Kate showed teens they could have fun, earn respect, and achieve success.

 

     While struggling with pancreatic cancer in 1998, Kate worked with her staff until her last month, preparing them to carry on the work of CHCC. Two weeks before she died, Kate rested at home while CHCC's annual talent show (the 12th she produced) took place.  After the show the child and adult participants stood under Kate's bedroom window and serenaded her with the songs she'd taught them.  Later that year, 50 children and adults made a float in Kate's honor and marched in the County Fair Days Parade, where Kate Hacker was posthumously named Honorary Marshall.

     Through her outstanding business acumen and dedication to the community, Grace Hughes has brought success to her company as well as generous commitment to many Marin non-profit organizations.     

     Since Ms. Hughes became President of the Marin Airporter in 1984, the company has evolved from an eight-vehicle operation to a 26-bus "transportation empire" with two terminals, an administrative center, and a maintenance facility.  More than 90 Airporter employees provide daily service to SFO at half-hour intervals, as well as charter service throughout the Bay Area.  

     Before assuming the leadership of Marin Airporter, Grace spent six years in the public sector.  She was a program director with the CORO Foundation, an organization dedicated to strengthening communities by training individuals to be effective, ethical leaders.  Grace also worked for the Democratic National Committee in California and New York City.    

     Grace's passion for giving back to the community is demonstrated both by her role on myriad non-profit Boards and by her personal and corporate support of the non-profit community.     

     A past trustee of the Marin Community Foundation, Ms. Hughes most recently has become involved with organizations and task forces devoted to community health, such as the Marin Community Clinic.  Grace also serves as co-chair of the Large Employer's Task Force on Work-force Housing.  And last but not least, she's proud of her 15-year record of "Bowling for Kids," even though she has never broken 50!

    As a young nurse, Mary Taverna observed that terminally ill patients were lacking adequate, compassionate care.  She decided there had to be a way to relieve the loneliness, isolation, and fear that haunted the last days of dying patients."     

     In 1976 Ms. Taverna joined Hospice of Marin, a fledgling organization dedicated to helping people die with dignity and support.  Two years later she became the President of Hospice of Marin.  Although the program was growing steadily, there was much resistance from other health care providers to the concept of hospice care.  Undaunted, Taverna kept on. 

     Largely because of Mary Taverna's persistence, Hospice of Marin was a true pioneer in the establishment of hospice, not only in the County, but also in the U.S. and elsewhere.  In 1995 the National Hospice Organization honored Ms. Taverna as "the individual who has done the most for hospice in the national and international level."       

     Ms. Taverna is a true role model for hospice professionals.  Health care providers from all over the country have come to Hospice of Marin for specialized training in end-of-life care.  Taverna also helped write legislation to provide public health care insurance coverage for hospice services.  This legislation, enacted in 1983, enabled the hospice movement to remain financially sustainable and led to private insurance coverage of hospice services as well.     

     Locally, under Mary Taverna's leadership, Hospice of Marin has become a vital humanitarian organization that is known in Marin County for its high-quality patient care and strong community relationships.

     Hilda Castillo has not wasted a minute of her 22 years in the US.  She came to Sonoma State as an international student to learn English and earn a master's degree, then returned to Venezuela, Before long the University recruited her so back she came with her children, this time to stay.    
    
     Her education, talents, vision, perseverance, and experience as an immigrant helped Hilda find ways to empower Marin's diverse ethnic population.  Helping other Latinas has been especially important.  Knowing that Spanish-speaking women had no chance to find jobs that would support their families, Hilda collaborated with the Marin Child Care council and the Canal community Alliance to develop a Spanish-language Family Day Care Training series.  Its graduates earn licenses that qualify them to open their own childcare businesses.  These women are independent because of Hilda Castillo.    

     Hilda is the director of Bilingual Studies & Outreach at Headlands Institute.  In  1993 she created the bilingual program for Pacific Environment and Resources Center to provide access to environmental education for Latino students who are English learners.  Recently she developed the bilingual "Family in Nature" program to educate low-income families and children about the environment.     

     Her work with English language learners often involves diverse school groups from under-served communities.  She even provides scholarships when money is tight.  She forged a groundbreaking partnership between the Headlands Institute and the Sausalito-Marin City School District to provide the district's students, families, and teachers with ongoing environmental education and field science experience.     

     Hilda's influence is international.  She has designed environmental activities for Bolivia and other Latin American countries.  She has collaborated with natural history museums, nonprofit environmental organizations, governments, and universities the world over.  "You have no idea how much satisfaction I get from doing this work," says Hilda Castillo, truly a contemporary Renaissance woman.

     Peggy Harrell, Director of Marin County's Prisoner Services, was ordained a minister in the United Church of Christ 22 years ago.  Prisoners in jail and at San Quentin Prison have come to depend on her after more than two decades she has spent working among them.     

     When Peggy started working in the jail, there were very few rehabilitation services.  As she says, "In the beginning I carried a cardboard box with pencils, paper, and magazines up and down the tiers." Today seventeen outside agencies provide programs for prisoners.  Many of these are considered models.  In fact personnel from other sheriff's departments, seeking to begin rehabilitation programs of their own, often visit to see how Marin's successful programs work.     

     The jail's drug and alcohol recovery programs have transformed the lives of countless inmates.  These programs, administered by Bay Area Community Resources, stress that the person is responsible for his own recovery.     

     Other programs Peggy supervised emphasize the practical skills required for successful rehabilitation.  These programs include English as a Second Language, GED preparation and exam, job search techniques, AIDS education, breast cancer detection workshops, parenting skills, and spiritual direction by various faiths.     

     The Mothers and Fathers program directed by Marin Literacy emphasizes positive parenting by teaching prisoners and importance of reading to their children.  After completing an eight-week class, prisoners pick two books to be sent home to their child.  They read one of the books onto tape, so the child can hear the absent parent's voice over and over again.     

     San Quentin inmates also receive Peggy's care and attention.  She visits Death Row weekly and has served as a Spiritual Advisor at the executions of three men.  Peggy considers it a great privilege to work among the incarcerated in Marin County.

      Fifth generation Marin native Heidi Kuhn, the founder of the internationally acclaimed "Roots of Peace" foundation, lives, works, and breathes the motto, "Think globally, act locally."  She attributes her international perspective to her experience as a high school Rotary exchange student in Japan.  From that point she was truly a child of the world.     

     International events have always been the focus of Heidi's life.  After graduating from U.C. Berkeley in 1979, she worked in international business management.        

     When the family moved to Alaska, Heidi started her own media company in 1989.  soon she was providing firsthand news about the Exxon Valdez oil spill and more to CNN, CBS, NBC and all the three-letter media giants.    

     The Kuhns returned to San Francisco and Heidi worked as a reporter and producer for CNN.  Soon after Princess Diana died in 1997, Heidi hosted a UN Land Mines Awareness reception.  She offered a toast in hope that the world would move from land "mines to vines."  With that toast, Roots of Peace was born.     

     Heidi has a talent for bringing diverse potential partners together.  Along with 450 California wineries, she has enlisted many other businesses and supporters ranging from the San Rafael and Croatian Rotary Clubs to the US State Department and the Canadian government.  Roots of Peace's first demine-and-replant project now serves as a model for similar projects from Afghanistan to Zagreb.  In 2005 was the year of the "Harvest of Hope" where 800 tons of fresh grapes were harvested from former minefields where Roots of Peach had removed over 100,000 landmines.     

     Family and mentoring also figure prominently in Heidi's life.  As a cancer survivor, she lives each day as a gift.  She instills her global perspective in her four children by taking them on working trips to Washington, DC, Croatia, and other far away places so they can see their mother "doing" diplomacy firsthand.  It's no surprise that they've begun duplicating her example.  What better lesson could they learn than to know that one person's actions can truly change the world?     

      Heidi was honored in 2002 as the Cal Berkeley Alumni of the Year for Excellence and Achievement.  Heidi still finds time to serve on the boards of: Marin Cancer Project, American Red Cross, Marin, Marin Charitable Association, Marin General Hospital, OB Foundation, founder of On Equal Footing, Rotary Club of San Rafael, Pickelweed Park Advisory Board and Delta Gamma.

     In her years with Community Action Marin, dynamo executive director Gail Theller has witnessed CAM grow from a fledging with a $40,000 annual budget to a huge, multi-program, multi-site service agency with an annual budget exceeding $10 million.  and she's not done yet.     

     Personally and professionally Gail thrives on empowering people - especially women.  Countless poor women have gone to school or work because Gail has seen that CAM provides affordable, quality childcare.  She has increased the number of day care programs for infants and established the million-dollar Hamilton Children's Campus, serving 150 children in Novato.     

     Gail finds creative ways to say "yes."  When the AIDS epidemic surfaced, she positioned CAM as a key provider of services.  By developing unique peer-run programs, Gail has helped Marin's homeless and mentally ill to take control of their lives.  Some of her programs serve as models in other parts of the country.

     Successful collaboration is another of Gail's trademarks.  Working with Goodwill, Gail and CAM developed Marin Jobs and Career Services.  Since 1997 they have placed more than 600 at-risk residents in permanent jobs paying at least $8 an hour.  The Helen Vine Detox Center, another successful partnership, serves more than 800 Marinites a year.     

     Over the years Gail has nurtured Marin's most valued, successful organizations - Homeward Bound, the Farmer's Market, the Food Bank, the Marin Child Care Council, and Ritter House.  Currently CAM is fiscal agent to emerging organizations such as Isoji (serving Marin City) and the Marin Continuum of Housing and Services.     

     Gail's strength and courage are also evident in her personal life.  She has dealt openly with being gay, overcome an alcohol problem, and donated a kidney to her sister.  Gail is a beacon, showing us how to serve with generosity, compassion and dignity.   

    Nahid Angha, Ph.D., is an international Muslim Sufi leader, a renowned scholar, and a resident of Marin County. Her long CV demonstrates tireless dedication to the transformation of individuals, communities, and institutions; an ongoing commitment to human rights; and interfaith cooperation. She has worked tirelessly for more than 25 years to empower others - especially women - through education and leadership training. Her peers and many admirers consider her a visionary transformer.    

     Sufism, the mysticism of Islam, has many forms and is practiced in many cultures. Traditionally, Sufi communities have been isolated from each other (often by choice) and guided solely by men. Dr. Angha changed all that. In 1983, she and her husband Dr. Ali Kianfar co-founded the Marin-based International Association of Sufism (IAS), to open a line of communication among Sufis from around the world.  IAS was the first Sufi organization admitted as an NGO/DPI to the United Nations. Dr. Angha is IAS’ main representative the UN. IAS earned UNESCO’s “Messenger of Peace” award in 2000.    

     Through her steadfast leadership, Dr. Angha has paved the way for Muslim women to assume leadership roles within the Sufi community, the greater Islamic community, and the international interfaith religious community. She established a Sufi network uniting individual Muslim and non-Muslim communities under one umbrella organization. She was the first woman ever to sit in the inner circle council of the annual Sufi Symposium - a truly revolutionary accomplishment. To recognize and acknowledge the contribution of Sufi women to the advancement of our civilizations, and to empower women, Dr. Angha formed the Sufi Women’s Organization, an international humanitarian, nonsectarian organization working for human rights with focus on women’s rights. SWO now has chapters in the US and 14 other countries.    
    
     Locally, Dr. Angha has held numerous positions on interfaith councils and was an active member of the Marin Interfaith Council. She established a partnership with Dominican University that resulted in an annual series of “Building Bridges of Peace” lectures. The first lecture brought together members from all the religious communities in the County, as well as the general public, to establish networks for joint community action and social justice. In San Jose, where people of many cultures reside, Dr. Angha formed a domestic violence awareness and prevention program for women in the Middle Eastern community.    

     Marin County is indeed fortunate to claim Dr. Nahid Angha as one of our own.

    “Learning and teaching are my passions,” said Maryjane Dunstan – first, last, and always an educator. After teaching at Merritt College and College of Marin, she was recruited by the State Department to teach in Burma under a Fulbright grant. Her work was so exceptional her one-year appointment was extended to four.      

     Maryjane founded the Communications Department at College of Marin, taught there for 20 years, and co-authored two “future studies” textbooks. A true visionary, she developed courses such as “Inventing the Future,” at which Buckminster Fuller spoke. Her “Future Fare” in the early ‘70s envisioned such unheard of concepts as laser holograms, geodesic domes, and even personal computers.      

     Maryjane believed that educators have responsibility to the community. She served tirelessly on elected and appointed Larkspur commissions. An untiring catalyst for change, Maryjane always knew what to do and didn’t hesitate to enlist others in getting it done. She earned the title of “Boss of Larkspur” because no matter how thorny the issue, she could always smile while she twisted arms and persuaded others to see things her way.       

     Maryjane also made her mark in the literary community. Co-owner of the beloved Artist’s Proof Bookstore on Magnolia Avenue, she hosted a series of literary lunches first at Fabrizio’s, then at A Clean Well-Lighted Place for Books, and finally at the Larkspur Café Theater. Not only did she bring in world-class authors, she also engaged them in conversations that went straight to the heart of their work. She stripped away all façades, ultimately revealing each author as “one of us.”      

     Before her death in 2002, she left her friends some words of appreciation, along with a few regrets:      

      I regret that I cannot hop out of bed and walk down Magnolia today. . . that I’m not out on the links trying for another hole-in-one! I regret that I am not able to send daily emails to our elected officials seeking their active leadership for peaceful problem solving and UN negotiations rather than wars and more killing fields. Yet treasuring each moment . . . I feel a measure of peace. . . .I have evolved in a culture when we women gained some rights and are now emerging as leaders for a just and peaceful world.”        

     Maryjane Dunstan followed her passions until her death in December 2002. What a legacy!

    Dr. Rachel Naomi Remen, a 1962 graduate of Cornell Medical School, is a visionary and medical reformer. A pioneer in the development of Holistic and Mind/Body medicine, her life’s work has successfully legitimized and reintegrated the human spirit into contemporary medical care and education. Dr. Remen is Clinical Professor of Family and Community Medicine at the UCSF School of Medicine. Her courses for medical students enable them to see beyond the disease process and strengthen the mind, heart and spirit of their patients. Her course  “The Healer’s Art” was featured in US News and World Report’s Best Graduate Schools 2002 to illustrate the future of medical education and is now taught at 33 medical schools.       

     Under her guidance as Founder and Director of the Institute for the Study of Health and Illness at Commonweal, thousands of physicians and medical educators have studied the principles and practices of a medicine of healing. Her programs for graduate physicians have helped doctors recover from the wounding of their training and reclaim their commitment to the heart and soul of medicine.       

      As a clinician for 20 years, Dr. Remen worked with people with cancer and their families and practiced in Marin County. In 1986 she became co-founder and medical director of the Commonweal Cancer Help Program in Bolinas, featured by Bill Moyers in his PBS series “Healing and the Mind.” She was among the first to recognize the psychological and spiritual impact of cancer on people and their families and develop innovative methods to mobilize the healing power of every individual in recovering their personal wholeness.        

     Dr. Remen has a 52-year personal history of Crohn’s disease and her work uniquely blends the viewpoints of physician and patient. A master storyteller and speaker, over the past thirty years she has spoken to hundreds of thousands of people throughout the country, reminding them of their courage, the importance and healing power of their stories and their ability to make a difference   

     Dr. Remen wrote The Human Patient (Doubleday 1981), one of the earliest books on the medicine of the whole person. She is the best-selling author of Kitchen Table Wisdom: Stories That Heal and My Grandfather's Blessings: Stories of Strength, Refuge and Belonging.  Her books have been translated into 18 languages and are textbooks in many nursing and medical schools here and abroad. Dr. Remen has spoken at many medical school graduations and holds three honorary degrees.

    Marilyn Smith’s middle name must be “Music.” She arrived in the Bay Area from Kansas (just like Dorothy) in 1957, with a degree in Music Education from Kansas University. Typical of the time, Marilyn placed her career on hold while she and her husband Bob raised five children, who all attended Mill Valley Public Schools.    

     Marilyn became involved with the music program at Old Mill School. Before she knew it, was producing musicals for Steve Riffkin, then a student teacher. Concurrently, she produced outdoor concerts for the Marin Symphony and the Children's Fun Concerts with Hugo Rinaldi at the Veteran's Auditorium at the Civic Center. In 1976, with funding from Mill Valley, Marilyn produced Steve Riffkin's original Bicentennial Suite and presented it in the Headlands. This production involved setting up a shuttle bus system – which led to her next adventure.        

     The Board of the Mountain Play found itself without a production staff; they had filled in the 1976 program with a free band concert and picnic. They discovered they needed a shuttle bus system to get crowds on and off the mountain, so they asked Marilyn to produce the next year's play – mainly because she had busing experience. Marilyn's first Mountain Play (1977) was “Clothes,” a musical written by George Leonard and Susan Trott, with original music by Steve Riffkin. A takeoff on “The Emperors New Clothes,” the play was an instant hit. With “Clothes” the Mountain Play discovered that Marin audiences love musical theater.  
    
     During the next three years, Marilyn continued as a volunteer producer of the event. She brought in Martin Frick, Michelle Swanson and Ben Dickson as Artistic Directors. In 1981, James Dunn, then head of the Drama Department at the College of Marin, came on board, bringing access to an enthusiastic talent pool from the College. Dunn added “surprise” elements to almost every production. But Marilyn would be the one who scouted and located the “special effects” requested by Dunn. The effects ran the gamut from a World War II airplane, to a cow, a horse-drawn carriage, a motorcycle, even Cuban dancers – effects that gave the productions authenticity.      
    
     For the last quarter century musicals have continued to thrill Mountain Play audiences. Marilyn continued as Executive Director until retiring in 1999, her 23rd year with the organization. Today the Mountain Play, in its 92nd season, is thriving. This wouldn’t have happened without Marilyn Smith. 

    Sushma Deva Taylor, Ph.D., a native of India, has been Executive Director of Center Point, Inc. a private substance-abuse facility in Marin, since 1981.Center Point provides long-term adult residential and outpatient services, adolescent services, in-custody drug treatment service, case management services for parolees, and a wide range of other services. The organization has grown under Dr. Taylor’s stewardship and today serves more than 6,500 clients annually in Sacramento, Contra Costa, San Diego and Marin counties, treatment to 2,400 inmates daily in seven California prisons, and parolee management in 18 California counties.       

     Dr. Taylor co-directed the Marin County Treatment Alternatives to Street Crime Project (TASC) for five years and was Director of the Sonoma County TASC for two years. The mentally ill diversion program she developed at Sonoma TASC became a national model. She directed the Phoenix Project at San Quentin, served on the Marin County Adult Criminal Justice Commission, and chaired the Commission for four years. Dr. Taylor has also served as a special consultant to the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges. The Residential Women and Children’s Program she developed at Center Point in 1990 is one of the best in the country.       

     Dr. Taylor has a Master’s in Public Administration, a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology, a MFCC, and she is a Certified Practitioner of Psychodrama and Group Sociometry. She holds office in the Therapeutic Communities of America (TCA) and chaired the California Therapeutic Communities Association (CTC). She serves on several statewide advisory boards and commissions, chairs the California Perinatal Treatment Network, serves on the Proposition 36 Statewide Advisory Group, co-chairs the Department of Alcohol and Drug Program’s Access to Recovery Project, and serves on Department of Corrections Office of Substance Abuse Program’s Policy Advisory Committee.      
    
     As a consultant for the State Department, Dr. Taylor toured India, Burma and South East Asia as an expert in narcotics treatment. Her team was sent to train psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers and counselors in the latest techniques. She has lived in the West Indies, Sweden, England, Laos and Bangkok and speaks several languages. Married to another clinical psychologist, Dr. Taylor has one son, Thaine, who recently completed a four-year enlistment with the US Marine Corps. He was deployed to Afghanistan immediately following September 11, 2001.

     Sylvia is Marin's best-known voice for peace, mindfulness, and practical spirituality. She has published four best-sellers that demystify spirituality and Buddhism (It's Easier Than You Think; Pay Attention, For Goodness' Sake; Don't Just Do Something, Sit There; and That's Funny You Don't Look Buddhist). She writes a column for Shambhala Sun Magazine and is known internationally for her work at Spirit Rock Meditation Center.    

     A native of New York City, Sylvia married her husband, Seymour, in 1955 and graduated from Barnard College in 1956. After moving to Marin in 1961, Sylvia earned a Master's in Social Work from U. C. Berkeley and a PhD. in Psychology from Saybrook Institute while raising her four children.    

     Sylvia has always been an activist. As president of Marin Women for Peace in the 1960s she, often accompanied by her children, led marches down Miller Avenue to protest the Vietnam War. She was a member of the Marin Chapter of the Women's International League of Peace and Freedom, and once represented Marin at a League Conference in Amsterdam.  

     In 1967, Sylvia worked for the Marin County Community Mental Health department as a psychology consultant to local police and sheriff's departments. She began private practice of Psychotherapy in 1984, was on the board at Center for the Family in Transition and served as Board Chair for one year.    

     Sylvia began teaching at the College of Marin (COM), Child and Adolescent Psychology, in 1970. She also designed and taught Parapsychology and Psychology of Meditation. She is pleased to have created the College's first course in Women's Studies. She also introduced Hatha Yoga at COM and taught in until 1984.    

      In the 1980's Sylvia began teaching meditation and is a founding teacher at Spirit Rock. Her Wednesday class draws nearly 80 students a week who consider the class their spiritual community. In 1996, Sylvia was among a group of Western teachers of Buddhism who dialogued with the Dalai Lama in India. In 2000 she and the Spirit Rock faculty and staff hosted an International Conference of Buddhist Teachers that brought the Dalai Lama to Marin.    

      Sylvia is a practicing Jew as well as a Buddhist meditation teacher. In 1994 she helped develop and teach the first Mindfulness training series for rabbis. In April 2006, Sylvia will teach at Spirit Rock's first Interfaith Mindfulness retreat. She represents Spirit Rock on the Marin Interfaith Council. We are honored to have Sylvia Boorstein in the Marin Women's Hall of Fame.

    Describing Joanne Dunn's contributions to Marin is an awesome task. She's served Marin County arts and service organizations as founder, board member, fundraiser, and PR person for 47 years. She's been happily married to Gordon Dunn for more than 50 years. A commitment from Joanne means long-term dedication.    

     Joanne's life is the arts began in the 1960's, when as a board member of the Marin County Junior Theater group, she joined the Masque Unit. This group brings live theater to children all over the Bay Area. Over the years she's been an actress, playwright (10 plays!), director, stagehand, and "gofer." She's still an active performing member.    

     Joanne has co-founded four major arts organizations. In the 1970s Joanne and two friends saw the need to supplement arts education in the schools. The result was Youth In Arts, a highly visible and effective nonprofit serving 30,000 Marin students annually. Simultaneously Joanne founded its volunteer arm, Youth In Arts Auxiliary, she originally underwrote Youth In Arts and served as its first executive director (40 volunteer hours/week). Both YIA organizations continue to flourish after 35 years, and Joanne is still involved.    

     In the 1980s Joanne and friends who share her love of the arts saw that the county's many various arts organizations were too small and isolated to have significant impact. Thus the Marin Arts Council, bringing these individual organizations together under one powerful umbrella, was born.    

     In the 1990s downtown San Rafael was on the decline. Joanne et al. saw this as opportunity for the arts community to help and be helped, so Art Works Downtown was born. This nonprofit creative haven provides gallery, studio, and living space to artists at reasonable prices. AWD has been a boon not only to artists and patrons, but it has made a positive impact on Fourth Street's appearance and economic growth. AWD is now regarded as one of the Bay Area's premier galleries.    

     Joanne has also worked tirelessly for the Marin Ballet, Marin Wildcare (formerly Terwilliger center), and San Francisco Theological Center's Montgomery Chapel. Joanne is also mother of a grown daughter, Sunday school pageant director, advisor, friend, and more. The common thread is her vision, imagination, skill, and tenacity. Her talent has not escaped notice. Mike Groza, recently retired from the Marin Community Foundation, remarked. "I think we should nominate Joanne to be the next director of FEMA." We agree!

    Royce McLemore is a dynamic activist whose "Women Helping All People" fosters personal achievement, economic independence, and a sense of belonging to a community.    

     In 1990, sixteen Marin City women gathered on Royce's front lawn to express their concern for the community's young women who lived in public housing, had nothing to do, and faced a future of more of the same. Under Royce's leadership, Women Helping Women, a grassroots support service, was formed. Through Royce's strong belief that "you can do anything you want to do," WHW gradually was transformed into something greater, Women Helping All People (WHAP). WHAP's mission is to provide low-income Marin residents - particularly those in public housing - with information, support services, and educational opportunities that develop self esteem, economic self-sufficiency, and a sense of community. (WHAP's programs are open to all Marin residents regardless of race, color, sex, or creed.)    

     Impressed by WHAP's plan, the Marin Housing Authority provided office space. With an office, a $1,000 donation, and a lot of hustling for furniture and equipment, WHAP was a business, and Royce was Executive Director. Assisted by the Marin Housing Authority, Community Action Marin, the Sausalito School District and various county agencies, WHAP's mission expanded again, this time to offer goal-directed bootstrap programs for all low income Marin County residents.    

     WHAP offers an impressive line-up. In- and After School Safe House is a tutorial program for K-12 students. Landscape Services, partnering with Marin Conservation corps, trains young men to be gardeners and provides opportunities to own businesses in public housing areas. The Oracle/Independent Studies Program works with MCOE to offer independent study to enable high school dropouts to earn a diploma. The GED/ESL Literacy Class, in cooperation with Marin Literacy Council, provides tutors to teach English to residents who don't speak English. Vietnamese residents of Marin City have benefited greatly from this program.    

     The Cumper Learning Center teaches computer skills that open the door to better-paying jobs. The Housing Authority provided funds for Computer Repair Training classes, with even better jobs in mind. Finder's Keepers, with help from Ritter house, offers clothing and household items to people in need. Finally, WHAP's Scholastic Academy offers a supportive learning environment for students who perform below grade level and need extra help to improve.    

     Royce's determination, fired by her strong personal faith, is the driving force behind all this. Congratulations, Royce McLemore! 

     "Marilyn Price" and "Trips for Kids" are rarely mentioned separately. The terms are two sides of an equation. And Trips for Kids (TFK) is why Marilyn has been named to the Marin Women's Hall of Fame.    

     For the past twenty years, TFK has been the focus of Marilyn's life. She works 70 to 80 hours a week to provide at-risk children ---kids who need it most---with the opportunity to ride mountain bikes. Not only do the kids take bike trips supervised by caring adults, they also learn to fix and maintain their equipment. They can even learn bike repair and earn credits to purchase a bike for themselves. In the process they make friends, learn skills, and discover that exercise is fun. Less obvious are learning to set and accomplish goals, gaining respect for the environment, and finding that dreams are achievable---maybe a bike ride away.    

     A native of St. Louis, Marilyn earned a B.A. in sociology from the University of Michigan. She moved to Marin 40 years ago and has two grown children. She has experience in non-profit management, environmentalism, social work, and bicycle advocacy. She worked for the Resource Renewal Institute, developed local recycling projects, volunteered with homeless youth, and worked at the first mountain bike shop in Marin.    

     Perseverance is one of Marilyn's hallmarks. By persevering she was able to succeed in a male-dominated sport. "Sustained commitment is vital." she says. "You have to set your sights and keep at it."    

     Perseverance is also evident in the success of TFK. Originally a volunteer-run program run on a hope and a dream out of Marilyn's living room, TFK now has an office, a staff of 15, and hundreds of volunteers. So far more than 28,000 low-income, inner city, at-risk kids across the country have taken a ride with TFK. 

     Seeing Marilyn in action is to witness selfless giving. Though eager to get on with her "to do" list, she always has time to check in with staff and visitors to the office. She's a big reason why Trips for Kids has caught on across the U.S.    

     Marilyn has awards from the Marin County Human Rights Commission, the Marin Chapter of the Sierra Club, the Girl Scouts, and the Sporting Goods Manufacturers Association. Marilyn Price has rightly earned her place in the Marin Women's Hall of Fame.

    Beverly Wright Bastian, an octogenarian dynamo, is known rightfully as the Tiburon Penninsula's "community organizer extraordinaire."    

     Bastian founded the Belvedere-Tiburon Landmarks Society in 1959. Under her direction, the Society acquired, restored, and maintained the peninsula’s most cherished historical landmarks: Old St. Hilary’s, the Social Saloon of the S.S. China (China Cabin), the Tiburon Railroad-Ferry Depot Museum, and the 19th century farm cottage and garden, AKA the Landmarks Art and Garden Center in Tiburon. The Society’s archives center in the Boardwalk Shopping Center is the most significant repository of the art, images, papers, and ephemera documenting the community’s past. Bastian is the only Tiburon Peninsula resident to be named “Citizen of the Year” by Belvedere and Tiburon.    

     This amazing woman is also recognized for her work in education. Bastian established six nonprofit cooperative nursery schools in southern Marin. The co-op in Marin City predated Head Start service in that community. She also founded the Marin Child Development Center for neurologically handicapped preschool children. As executive director of the co-op schools for 20 years, Bastian was a role model for mothers, many of whom were inspired by her example to return to school for advanced degrees.    

     Over the years Beverly Bastian has worn other hats. She was appointed to the first board of directors of Marin’s Family Service Agency in the 1940s. She served on Belvedere’s Parks and Recreation commission and chaired it for seven years. She worked as a journalist for The San Francisco Chronicle, Marin IJ, The Ark, and the Mill Valley Record. She co-authored A Pictorial History of Belvedere, 1890 – 1990.    

     Bastian has also enjoyed success in business. She opened Custom House Antiques on The Boardwalk. Bastian achieved all this despite having narcolepsy, a lifelong disability that prevented her from getting a driver’s license.    

     In 1992 Bastian was honored for Distinguished Public Service by her Alma Mater, the University of the Pacific. She was honored by the Conference of California Historical Societies and received the Jefferson Award from the American Institute for Public Service. Awards also came from the Family Service Agency, the Marin Child Development Center, the Marin Conservation Council, and the Daughters of the American Revolutions (DAR).    

     In recognition of her remarkable contributions, the Marin Women’s Hall of Fame joins the Landmark Society in calling Beverly Wright Bastian “the catalyst, the master mind, the guiding spirit” behind much that is good in the County.

    Lesley Schisgall Currier is the founding Managing Director of Marin Shakespeare Company.
During her 18 year tenure, she has done everything that needed to be done to get the company on a solid financial and artistic footing. “Everything” includes acting, directing, constructing sets and props, board building, fundraising, special events and development in the broadest sense.    

     Marin Shakespeare Company is widely recognized for its professional productions each summer at Forest Meadows Amphitheatre on the campus of Dominican University of California. Under Lesley’s leadership, MSC has garnered national attention and won many awards. MSC is also renowned for its educational outreach programs for thousands of Marin students each year.    

     Innovative programs are Lesley’s hallmark. In 1991 she began education programs that now serve more than 5,000 students annually with classes, summer camps, in-school and after school programs, student matinees, and a Teen Touring Company. More than 35 schools participate each year. There are free outreach programs to young people from Marin City and the Canal neighborhood, as well as to inmates at San Quentin. Lesley empowers students and instills the desire to use their own abilities and expand their creativity.    

     Directing is another strong point. Her adaptation of A Thousand and One Arabian Nights, which she wrote and directed, was nominated for “Best Overall Production of 2002” by the Bay Area Critics Circle. Her original adaptation of Alice in Wonderland delighted audiences at Marin Shakespeare Company in 2006.    

     Lesley took her vision “on the road” by helping start a Shakespeare festival in Los Barriles in Baja, Mexico. For five years Lesley and husband Robert, Marin Shakespeare’s Artistic Director, put on annual Shakespearean productions with the locals, with Lesley co-directing and acting in all five productions. In 2006 Lesley arranged for Marin and Baja Shakespeare to host the Shakespeare Theater Association of America (STAA) conference in tiny Los Barriles.     

     Lesley holds a B.A. in Religion from Princeton University, where she received the Frances LeMoyne Page Award for Theatre. She served on Theatre Bay Area’s Theatre Service Committee for six years, is past president of STAA, and has twice been a panelist for the National Endowment for the Arts, an honor bestowed only on the nation’s best and brightest. The proud mother of Jackson and Nate, and only 44, Lesley is an exquisite role model for young women in the arts.

    For 30 years, Françoise Lepage, PhD, Professor and Dean Emerita at Dominican University of California’s School of Business, has pursued a vision: to enhance Marin’s global perspective. What makes this woman unique is her singular ability to translate her vision into concrete plans and partnerships.    

     In the 1980s she secured a National Science Foundation grant to create a program that would enhance the global perspective of Marin’s K- 2 teachers. What’s unique is that Lepage’s NSF grant was for a social studies program—unheard of from a foundation focused on science and mathematics. NSF funded the program for four years, and then hired Dr. Lepage as a consultant to promote social science grant opportunities within NSF.  

     In the 1990s Dr. Lepage became the founding director of Dominican’s Graduate Program in Pacific Basin Studies. With faculty backing for the new MBA curriculum with an innovative new focus, she secured a grant from the Compton Foundation to establish the program. Lepage’s work has been the foundation of Dominican University’s business program for 25 years.    

     In fall 2007, thanks to Dr. Lepage’s vision, Dominican University will begin its Green MBA program. This innovative curriculum, an offshoot of Pacific Basin Studies, is an example of the way Francoise Lepage works: concept to vision to implementation to reimplementation— accompanied by amazing perseverance, tenacity, and long-term commitment.    

     Along with these formidable academic contributions, Lepage enjoys getting a personal look at the world. Besides meeting alumni in Taipei, Tokyo, Bangkok, and Shanghai, addresses to business groups in Seoul, Sydney, Marrakech, and even San Rafael fill her calendar. She’s also brought an astonishing group of world figures to lecture on campus, among them the late U.S. ambassador to the UN Jeanne Kirkpatrick, former secretary of defense Robert McNamara, anthropologist Louise Leakey, oceanographer Sylvia Earle, psychologist Kay Redfield Jamison, and string theorist Brian Green.    

     Dr. Lepage has received many awards for her achievements, among them a Japan Foundation Fellowship, the Distinguished Citizen Award from the Marin Cultural Center, the Sarlo Distinguished Professor Award for Lifetime Achievement, and the Pacific Basin Alumni Award.    

     Marymount University, Lepage’s alma mater, has awarded this outstanding woman a Doctor of Human Letters as a “distinguished alumna and educator.” Young women searching for a role model with the vision, fortitude, and talent to change the world need look no further than Marin’s own Françoise Lepage.

     Daisy Maria Saez de Ibarra was a feminist before the word became a movement. One of a handful of women in the 1940s and 1950s to attend law school in Cuba, Daisy worked as a lawyer and social worker in her native country. In those days, such jobs always belonged to men.    

     She and her husband Octavio found conditions in Communist Cuba growing intolerable. In 1960 they left their homeland in search of freedom and a new life. After settling in Marin, Daisy never returned to her beloved Cuba again.    

     Daisy’s keen intelligence, boundless generosity, and personal and professional integrity helped her adjust to her new home. Eager to help other immigrants adjust, Daisy co-found La Familia Center, a place where Spanish speaking people could find jobs, learn English, and find housing. Although her title was “Trabajadora Social” (social worker), she was much more. She was the “go-to” person who connected people to services and resources, helped them solve problems, and encouraged them with the words, “Si, se puede!” (yes, you can).    

     Her training in the law had sharpened Daisy’s sense of injustice. She recognized exploitation when she saw it and was quick to help people seek legal assistance and redress. Because of her own traumatic experience as a newcomer, Daisy knew that celebrating traditional cultural events was a good way to help immigrants forge a new community. She encouraged these celebrations, and this legendary cook would bring her famous Cuban flan to every event.    

     After leaving La Familia, Daisy saw the need for another place to serve the growing Hispanic community. She encouraged Marta Martinez to start the Multicultural Program at Whistlestop. Today the program thrives, with three fulltime employees providing seniors with language programs, referral and translation services, ESL and citizenship classes, and more.    

     The final career stop for Daisy was the Marin Department of Health and Human Services. For 14 years she helped Spanish-speakers work through legal regulations to determine if they qualified for Medical, food stamps, or cash benefits.    

     Daisy was a fully realized human being, a woman of integrity and action. Cuba was always in her heart, while she worked tirelessly to provide friendship and assistance to others trying to adjust to a new home. Daisy and her legacy of service to her community will not be forgotten.

    Deborah Santana is a true Renaissance woman. To say she’s an author, business woman, wife, mother, and philanthropist is to scratch the surface. Perhaps the best way to understand this woman is to look at her memoir, Space Between the Stars. With grace and wisdom, she explores issues of faith, spirituality, race, sexuality, love, marriage, motherhood and womanhood. Through writing, Deborah shares her ongoing quest to believe in and express her best self—and, in doing so, to love and serve humanity.    

     Born in San Francisco in the 1950s, Deborah grew up in a culture in profound transition. Her father, a pioneering African-American blues guitarist and singer, and her mother, an independent Irish/British-American career woman, married before interracial unions were legal in many states—and at a time when wives were not expected to work outside the home. They created a colorblind household where all dreams were possible. The speeches of Martin Luther King, Jr. and the songs of Mahalia Jackson helped form Deborah’s sense of equality and social justice.

  
     Ms. Santana emerged as a successful entrepreneur in the early ’70s. At the age of twenty-two, she owned and managed a thriving vegetarian restaurant in the heart of San Francisco. She met musician Carlos Santana at a concert at the Marin Civic Center. They married in 1973 and have three children together. In 1994, the couple assumed management of the Santana Band.   

     In 1998, the Santanas established the Milagro Foundation, a nonprofit organization serving children and youth in the areas of health, education and the arts. The Milagro Foundation –milagro meaning miracle – has made hundreds of grants to underserved and underprivileged children and youth in 30 states and 35 countries, with a focus on agencies in Marin County.    

     Santana’s accomplishments have been widely recognized. In 2000, Ms. Santana received the UCLA César E. Chávez Spirit Award in recognition of her philanthropic work. In 2004, she received a Women of Distinction Award from Soroptimist International for her outstanding achievements in business and leadership. She and Carlos have been recognized by YOUTHAIDS for their efforts battling the AIDS pandemic in Africa. In 2006 Deborah received one of the Marin Human Rights Commission’s Martin Luther King, Jr. Humanitarian Awards. Deborah Santana has earned her place in the Marin Women’s Hall of Fame.

    Outstanding TV journalism is synonymous with the name Cheryl Jennings. Behind the success is her heart, evident in her extensive service to the community of Marin and beyond.

     Jennings began her career at KNBR radio in 1974. Moving to K101, she became the station’s first ever female news director and the second female news director in the Bay market. She began working at KPIX TV while still on the radio! In 1979 she moved to KGO and rose from general assignment reporter to co-anchor to anchor. She also files special reports and hosts Beyond the Headlines, a community affairs program.    

     Cheryl pioneered in reporting on children’s issues, women’s rights and domestic violence, for which she’s been recognized locally and nationally. In 1998, Cheryl won an Emmy for a show on caring for aging parents and in 1996, another for a report on a camp for children with AIDS, and a third Emmy for a segment of the program Straight Talk N’ Teens—hosted by teens she trained and mentored.    

     In 2002, Cheryl received the Gracie Allen Award for “superior quality and stellar portrayal of the changing roles and concerns of women” for Behind Bars: Battered Women Who Kill Their Abusers. The program profiled women serving life terms for killing their abusive partners before the “battered woman’s syndrome” law was passed.    

     Jennings won another Emmy in 2005 for Beyond the Headlines, a program on youth and steroids featuring 49er Coach Bill Walsh. In 2004, The American Women in Radio and Television honored Cheryl with its KUDO Award for Best TV Public Affairs Program, Sunday on Seven. In 2007 Marin’s Search for the Cause against breast cancer included Cheryl in its “100 Magnificent Marin Women” tribute.    

     Cheryl also went to Kosovo twice. Her six-part series on the children of Kosovo earned her an Emmy nomination. In 2003, Cheryl co-founded “Pennies for Peace,” a campaign to help mend the ravages of war. “Pennies,” an offshoot of the Marin-based Roots of Peace, invites children to donate their change to help de-mine the playgrounds, soccer fields and schools in Afghanistan. Jennings reported on it from Afghanistan in 2005. This unique child-centered peace program was honored by former U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan. San Rafael also recognized her work for the Roots of Peace Penny Campaign by declaring a “Cheryl Jennings Day” in April 2007.    

     The Marin Women’s Hall of Fame is honored to include Cheryl Jennings among its members.

     Dr Lois Merriweather Moore, a wife, mother, grandmother, and Novato resident, has been an educator for 35 years. She empowers her students to envision their own excellence, and gives them the tools to achieve success.     

     Dr. Moore taught Spanish, English, and English as a Second Language in Marin’s middle and high schools. While famous for setting the performance bar high, Lois set even higher standards for herself. She knew that if she didn’t excel, she couldn’t expect her students to excel. She is a superior role model for students. In addition to speaking appearances and presenting research at international conferences, her professional training included the Women & Power Executive Education Program at Harvard University and the Institute for Social and International Studies in Barcelona, Spain.    

     As an Adjunct Professor in the International & Multicultural Education Department of the University of San Francisco, Dr. Moore teaches other teachers and administrators. She assists doctoral scholars in gathering, organizing, and presenting research at international conferences such as the Hawaii International Conference on Education in Honolulu and the International Association for Intercultural Education Conference in Verona, Italy. Presenting at prestigious conferences gives junior scholars needed exposure that significantly enhances job marketability, and Lois shows them how it’s done.    

     Moore also helps doctoral scholars navigate the arduous road to professional publication – a critical step on the path to tenure. In her second publication, The Dispersion of Africans and African Culture Throughout the World: Essays on the African Diaspora, Moore edited and published the research of several doctoral scholars that she taught. By having a publication on record before they graduated, Moore’s students had an edge in the job market. Dr. Moore’s collaboration in this work was a milestone in the history of USF’s School of Education.    

     Lois Moore teaches more than what’s in the textbook. She’s a living example that education is a lifetime project. She teaches students how to live by exhibiting character, self-respect, perseverance, and integrity. She empowers students by challenging them to perform at levels they thought impossible.    

     Dr. Moore’s commitment to community and educational excellence has been widely recognized. She has received the Martin Luther King Humanitarian Award, the Novato Citizen of the Year Award, the Bay Area Blacks in Philanthropy Leadership & Achievement Award, the Carl. A. Grant Multicultural Research Award, and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Gates Millennium Scholarship Award. We welcome her to the Marin Women’s Hall of Fame.

    When Elaine Petrocelli opened a bookstore 32 years ago, she envisioned a place that would bring the world to Marin and vice versa. That she has done so successfully, against the odds, is in itself a great story.    

     Elaine Petrocelli has always been the face and heart of Book Passage, with her husband, Bill, working in the background. She announces speakers, introduces new programs, speaks to the community, and will recommend a string of books at the slightest request. She has worked hard to ensure that Book Passage remains Marin’s favorite bookstore.    

     Innovation, hard work, optimism, and community spirit are Elaine’s trademarks. When celebrity authors visit the Bay Area, they want to come to Book Passage. The store hosts 700 author events each year – nearly two a day – of presidents, pundits, Nobelists, and first time novelists. Many people come hours early or sit on the floor, just to glimpse their favorite authors.    

     Book Passage classes and conferences help make it more than just a business. Book Passage teaches everything from writing memoirs to marketing your manuscript. The calendar is anchored each year by the Mystery Writers Conference, the Children’s Book Conference, and the Travel Writers Conference. With a reputation for solid content, an engaging professional faculty, and an international base for students, Book Passage has brought the community bookstore to a new level.    

     Elaine makes sure to give back to the community. Under her guidance, Book Passage events raise money for Hospice of Marin, Marin Community Clinic, Buckelew Programs, Canal Community Alliance, Marin Abused Women Services, Marin Aids Projects, Breast Cancer Action, Performing Stars, Marin Literacy Project, Marin Education Fund, and many other programs. Book Passage becomes a rallying-point in times of crisis. When the literary community wanted to put on a fund-raiser on short notice to benefit the victims of Hurricane Katrina, Book Passage stepped in with an extraordinarily successful event.    

     Elaine and Book Passage are widely recognized beyond Marin, with a newsletter reaching 40,000 people worldwide. Other independent booksellers consider her an innovator and mentor. Elaine has been named “Bookseller of the Year” by Publishers Weekly and recognized as a “Woman Making History” by the International Women’s Forum. She has received a “Creative Achievement Award” from Mill Valley as well as an “Inspiring the Future Award” from the Marin Education Fund. Elaine Petrocelli has written herself into the heart of the community and the Marin Women’s Hall of Fame.

    Fu Schroeder is a Buddhist priest, a teacher, an activist, an innovator, an organizer, and a visionary. She is a mother, a mentor, a friend. Ordained in 1986, Fu has been part of the San Francisco Zen Center for 30 years. She serves as Director at Green Gulch Farm, and as president of the Marin Interfaith Council. But these words don’t reveal the person, or show why Fu has been nominated to the Marin Women’s Hall of Fame.

     At Green Gulch Fu has worked towards positive change, for ways to bring Buddhism to the greater community. She developed a Work Practice Apprenticeship program that enables people on limited income to participate in life at Green Gulch. She initiated a Three Week Intensive Medication Period that enables staff to use quieter times at the center to renew their personal spiritual practice. She established a Coming of Age program that offers teens a year in which they examine issues of maturity, responsibility, and service while exploring meditation and self expression.    

     Fu has helped make Green Gulch a place that welcomes diversity. She has helped make the center more accessible to people with disabilities. She has led retreats designed to present Buddhist teachings in a safe environment for the LGTBQQ community. She has served on the Diversity and Multiculturalism committee at the center and Marin Horizon School, which her daughter attends.    

     Fu also initiated a unique cultural exchange program with members of the Little Singer Community School on Navajo land. One summer several Navajos visited Green Gulch, and the next Fu led a group to the Navajo lands in the Four Corners. Among the contingent was Fu’s African American daughter who has physical challenges. This trip gave Fu the chance to practice plenty of patience, compassion, leadership, and love, day to day. The impact of this cultural exchange on all the participants cannot be measured.    

     As a Buddhist priest, Rev. Fu bears witness to the importance of women as leaders in religion. Through her work, she creates a peaceful space for people to come together in the spirit of harmony and understanding. When she was ordained, candidate Nancy Schroeder received a “dharma” name meant to express some of her unique qualities. The name she was given, “Furyu Doshin,” translates from the Japanese as “Wind and Stream, Way Seeking Heart.” This name clearly captures the qualities Fu manifests.  

    Rose Rodrigues da Fonta Verrall (1883 - 1964)
Giving to the community is an inherent part of life in Marin. But giving one’s entire inheritance of shoreline property to become a wildlife sanctuary is extraordinary generosity. This is the story of an incredible gift by a unique woman known as “Tiburon’s Goat Lady.”    

     Rose Rodriques da Fonta immigrated with her parents from the Portuguese Azores when she in 1886 when she was three years old. They were tenant farmers at the Reed family’s ranch in Tiburon. Rosie grew up on the 11 acre knoll along the shore of Richardson Bay, an arm of the San Francisco Bay.    

     A romance developed between young John Paul Reed and Rosie, but it was squelched by his family and John never married. Before his death in 1919, Reed gave Rosie and other long-time ranch tenants parcels of his land. Rosie now owned the 11 wondrous acres overlooking the Golden Gate, where she grew up and still lived.    

     She stayed on the knoll after her marriage to Arthur Verrall in 1933, witnessing the seasons, wildflowers, and flocks of migratory water fowl. Rosie also witnessed developers fill her beloved marshes for construction. She found these changes alarming. She was determined that her property and its abundant wildlife would not fall to the developers.    

     In 1957 Caroline Livermore and Elizabeth Terwilliger, legendary Marin conservationists, persuaded Rosie to donate her precious 11 acres to the National Audubon Society as headquarters for the Richardson Bay Wildlife Sanctuary. Her parcel was the key to saving the 900-acre bay from being filled, and to preserving the Tiburon shoreline for public use. Her donation is considered the single most important act of environmental preservation in the history of Marin County. Her gift opened the door to saving San Francisco Bay and protecting all the great bays of Marin as open space.    

     Rose Verrall understood the impact development would have on the quality of life. She had the confidence and support to do something about it. Because of her determination Rose was able to preserve a unique part of the threatened landscape. And generosity! Who among us would give all we owned to the community? Only Rosie.    

     About those goats: turns out Rose was green before her time. She considered her goats not only as pets, but as efficient lawn mowers. Hats off to Rose Verrall, one of Marin’s treasures. (For more details see Saving the Marin-Sonoma Coast by Rosie’s doctor, Martin Griffin.)

 Helping others, seniors, the disabled, the economically disadvantaged, to find affordable housing has been Mary Murtagh’s primary focus since college. After graduating cum laude from Wellesley College, she studied architecture at M.I.T. Mary was assigned to design a bus shelter in a public housing project and saw for the first time, the reality of urban poverty. She was motivated to be part of the solution and abandoned architecture to become involved in urban problems, housing policy and real estate finance.

Mary believes that poverty is very often a women’s issue that has a cascading effect due to discrimination and flawed social policies. Early in her career, Mary saw that the security of housing would provide a secure foundation to give disadvantaged women and their families an opportunity to succeed.

Today Mary serves as President and CEO at EAH Housing, (Ecumenical Association for Housing) and has overseen EAH develop over 5,500 units in 42 municipalities in California and Hawaii - often places where "affordable housing" is an oxymoron.

Mary served as Assistant Deputy Administrator of the Community Redevelopment Agency in Los Angeles and Development Officer for the Urban Development Action Program of HUD. She spearheaded a $4 million renovation of the 174-unit Arlington Hotel in San Francisco for St. Vincent de Paul, an award-winning development, one of the first "sober" residential complexes in the nation for recovering alcoholics.

Mary’s perseverance, innovation, enormous energy, leadership ability and focus on affordable housing has proven to be her life-defining work: growing EAH from a small grassroots organization with 16 properties in Marin to a nationally recognized non-profit housing development, management and advocacy organization serving over 18,000 individuals in two states.

Her innovative policy changes at EAH Housing have included: access to technology for EAH residents, a corporate-wide "green" policy, programs for women re-entering the job force, residential training programs and child care facilities. Mary championed the first computer learning center in HUD’s Western Region; a network of 13 centers in EAH developments. She is committed to preserving properties at risk of conversion to Market Rate housing by keeping them available for low-income families and seniors.

From bureaucracy and NIMBYs, dried-up financial support systems, to an ever increasing demand for affordable housing, Mary has faced set-backs and challenges with grit and tenacity. Whether it is Edgewater Place, Mackey Terrace, Cecilia Place or one of a dozen others, she sees each property as a vital safe harbor for families who are working hard to keep their lives together.

The Hall of Fame is proud of Mary’s enduring quest to provide affordable housing for those in need.

 Sister Marion is committed to serving others by raising social consciousness, primarily through teaching, administration and example. In 1949, she began her vocation as a Roman Catholic nun and taught third-graders at St. Raphael Elementary School in San Rafael. For 50 years, Sister Marion held eleven different positions in education in Marin, Vallejo, Monterey, Stockton, San Francisco, Napa and Santa Rosa, including serving as Assistant Superintendent of Schools.

Shifting her focus from education to commitment and social activism, she holds the title of "Promoter of Peace, Justice and the Care of Creation" and works tirelessly with others to: ban capital punishment, protect the environment,  provide affordable housing, improve education and to further other social justice issues.

In 2003, Sister Marion led the Dominican Sisters of San Rafael to take a stance against pre-emptive strikes in Iraq, and she continues
to work and pray for peace in all global conflicts. She is against the death penalty, and along with members of the community, has held a vigil at San Quentin at each execution. She has collaborated with others to address issues relating to human trafficking, worked to create safe houses or to provide additional support services, and protested during the ICE raids in 2007.

Sister Marion has served as Secretary, Vice-President and President with the Marin Interfaith Council to address not only the death penalty but also affordable housing issues and immigration injustices. At MIC, Sister Marion works with Protestant Christians, Jewish, Buddhist, Muslim, Sufi and many other religious leaders, for the purpose of justice, equity, excellence, equal opportunity and respect for all.

She is also an athlete and began running at 48 years old. Her fellow Sisters have become her cheering squad. Sister Marion experienced her own human limitations while running which helped to deepen her compassion taking her to new heights in more than the running world, inspiring her to reach out beyond education to a role of social activism.

Sister Marion ran competitively for 15 years and was the oldest woman ever to qualify for the Olympic trials in long-distance running in 1983. This event earned her a sponsorship by Nike and a place in the Road Runners Club of the American Hall of Fame.

As Sister Marion approaches her 80th birthday, she continues to model leadership that is founded upon compassion, humor, perseverance and social justice.  She has received the Marin County Human Rights Commission’s Martin Luther King Jr. Humanitarian Award and Dominican

University’s Athletic Hall of Fame recognition. Marin Women’s Hall of Fame joyfully welcomes her for her humanitarian efforts, leadership for social justice and dedication to education on so many levels. 

Gloria's work and focus are from three sources: love and respect for children; an understanding of the profound benefits of art and play as healing tools; a belief that everyone has something of value to contribute and that everyone needs opportunities to give back.

At thirteen, she became a child advocate, as a volunteer in a NYC pediatric hospital where she painted with critically ill children. After high school she traveled and founded three small schools for children in Spain, Holland and Peru. Using art she followed her lifelong dreams and passion and created a unique way for children to cope and to begin healing.

Gloria received a B.F.A. from The Cooper Union in New York City and an M.A. in counseling psychology and an honorary M.A. degree in expressive art therapy from The California Institute of Integral Studies in San Francisco. In 1980 she moved to the Bay Area. In 1981, she began therapeutic art programs at two San Francisco hospitals; California Pacific Medical Center/University of California, and San Francisco’s Moffitt Hospital. At the Children’s Cancer Research Institute, she created an arts program to help children cope and express themselves. "The children," she remembers, "taught me to listen and to sit with pain."
In1989, she founded the DrawBridge Foundation: An Arts Program for Homeless Children, in the canal district of San Rafael.  It has served over 10,000 children in family shelters: providing safety, stability and respect for homeless children offering art, collage, role-playing and other artistic methods.
DrawBridge also has 30 sites in seven bay area counties. As one of the earliest and most successful programs for the homeless population of Marin, DrawBridge has become a model for other states and also established international partnerships with groups in Afghanistan, Palestine, India and Mexico. Over the past ten years, Gloria offered training in working with children in crisis in Europe and Africa, with a focus on children affected by HIV/AIDS.

Gloria Simoneaux was founder, fund-raiser and Executive Director of Drawbridge for nineteen years.  She recently started a new organization, Harambee Arts, which partners with African grassroots programs to train local caregivers to provide art programs for vulnerable children in an environment that fosters their sense of joy, creativity and exuberance. Harambee, a Swahili word for "Let’s Pull Together" sums up Gloria’s desires for helping children.

Gloria’s vision and perseverance have raised social consciousness and advanced human rights throughout the world. Her work has empowered others, especially children. In 2008 Gloria was awarded a Fulbright Fellowship to lecture and do research at the University of Nairobi, Kenya, for a year.

The Hall of Fame honors Gloria in Social Change, for her continued dedication to help homeless children.

 The first woman elected District Attorney in the history of Marin County, Paula Freschi Kamena, demonstrated in so many ways her desire to make a difference for others. As a successful prosecutor, Paula made sure that those who needed treatment in lieu of prosecution received it. She stressed prevention and protection, not just prosecution as a solution, creating a new template for the County.

As a former juvenile probation officer who interviewed child victims of sexual abuse, Paula garnered the support of the Chiefs of Police, other County leaders and Soroptimist of Marin to raise funds to help establish the Jeannette Prandi Children’s Center. At this state-of-the-art center, children who have been sexually assaulted must no longer endure the terrifying experience of multiple interviews by multiple people and agencies. This method has proven to reduce trauma to the child and to help begin the healing process for more than 500 children to date.

As an active member in the Soroptimist Club, Paula spearheaded fund-raising efforts during her membership and leadership in the club, raising nearly $200,000, all of which has gone to support programs focusing on women and girls.

Paula’s perseverance and vision has improved the criminal justice system in Marin. She was the founding member of the Sexual Assault Response Team (SART), Adult Drug Court, Juvenile Drug Court, Mental Health Court, California Community Partnership for the Prevention of Financial Elder Abuse, Marin City Fatherhood Program, Share the Road Bicycle campaign, North Bay High Tech Task Force to fight computer crime. Before Paula, none of these programs existed in Marin.
She served as the first woman president of the Marin County Police Chiefs Association, Commissioner on the California State Council on Mentally Ill Offenders and as a board member on the California District Attorney’s Association.

"Can we do this better?"  Paula advocates raising social consciousness, with an emphasis on the advancement of women’s rights and promotion of opportunities for women and girls. Since Paula joined The Soroptimist Club, more emphasis has been placed on Domestic Violence. More programs and speakers reach a greater number of women, particularly since the domestic violence symposium which Paula created caused a far-reaching "ripple" effect among other Soroptimist Clubs. Many victims have reported that the video-taped coverage of this event shown on local channels has saved their lives.

For these efforts and others, Paula has been honored by receiving the Soroptimist Club’s Women of Distinction Award.  For Public Affairs: the Marin Women’s Hall of Fame welcomes Paula Freschi Kamena, motivator of change and advocate for women and girls.

Laurel Burch (1945 - 2007)
Mystical beings and familiar icons expressed Laurel Burch’s own brilliant and loving spirit. Her artwork and designs of fantastic felines, mythical horses, creatures from ocean and sky, people from many lands, all serve as symbols, to remind us of the ongoing world of the spirit.
As a self-taught painter and entrepreneur, Laurel perceived herself as a folk artist. She told visual stories, beginning as a child when she fashioned small gifts from odds and ends for her grandmother. At fourteen she left her troubled home, taking with her only a paper bag of clothes and osteopetrosis, the rare bone disease she was born with.

With no job, no money and no plans, she landed in San Francisco, where she earned her room and board by cooking, cleaning and babysitting. She began making and wearing jewelry, earrings and necklaces, from old coins, bones and beads. Her creations became bridges to friendships and patrons, and these artifacts became treasures for people all across the country and collecting Laurel Burch became a phenomenon.

Throughout her life, she refused to give in to her painful osteopetrosis. Even during long periods of convalescence, when she was forced to paint from a bed or a wheelchair, she held onto her paints and her brushes. "I refuse to have anything in my life," she said, "that I can’t turn into something magical and beautiful." Even from a hospital bed, she continued to create, calling up that indomitable spirit from what she called her "inner sanctum." Later, in an isolation forced by her illness, Laurel was able to travel the world via her website, sharing her designs and messages all over the globe in the forms of prints, fabrics, scarves and more.

Laurel performed hundreds of speaking engagements around the country, with an emphasis on healing. "My bone disease was my gift," she told others. And her gift of generosity and commitment extended to many organizations, giving her time, art work, her name and her heart to hundreds of boards, organizations and causes, including Glide Memorial Church, KQED TV, San Jose Cleveland Ballet, Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, Gandhi Memorial International Foundation, and many others.

She was appreciated by many of these organizations who celebrated her humanitarian participation as well as her art work. Her awards include the SF Entrepreneur of the Year Award, Women of Vision Award, Living Legacy Award and the Eleanor Roosevelt Human Rights Award.

The Marin Women’s Hall of Fame adds its adulation of this creative and inspiring artist’s accomplishments: prolific painter, designer, poet, public speaker, community activist and humanitarian.