Marin Women's Hall of Fame

     Etta Allen is a Marin pioneer for women in non-traditional careers.  Etta showed an early resolve for entering fields not ordinarily open to women by earning an airplane pilot's license while still a teenager.  Later, she co-founded a heating, air conditioning and sheet metal business with her husband, Jim.  Upon his death, she faced tremendous obstacles to obtaining a heating/ventilation contractor's license for herself, despite years of contracting experience.  Through persistence and patience - the hallmarks of Etta's success - she was able to take the contractor's exam.  Allen Heating and Sheeting Metal, Inc. continues to be a successful Marin business.    

     Ms. Allen went on to become the first woman President of the Marin Builder's Exchange, where she is still an active member.  She was the first woman contractor on the executive committee of the California Association of Builder's Exchanges. She also served on the Apprentice Committee for Women in Non-Traditional Careers.  Etta was elected to the Marin Community College Board for two terms (eight years).  She was President of the Bay Area Trustees for Community Colleges.  Etta continues to be a leader in the Marin community.  She was appointed by the Governor to the State Compensation Insurance Fund Board.  She was the first woman President of the San Rafael Rotary Club, and was President of the San Rafael Chamber of Commerce.  She maintains a strong involvement with both organizations.  A board member of the Marin General Hospital Foundation for many years, she recently moved to the Hospital's Management Board of Directors.  In addition, Etta is a director of Westamerica Bank.

Read the extended biography by Nancy Nakai.

ISABEL ALLENDE
Arts
1994

     Internationally acclaimed author Isabel Allende began writing novels in 1981.  Since then her books have been translated into 27 languages; two of the books were made into motion pictures and theater plays.  All her works have a common theme: life is precious and should be lived free from oppression.  Her novels feature female protagonists whose strength, intelligence and creativity enable them to endure hardships, fight oppression and improve the world around them.     

     A Marin County resident since 1988, Ms. Allende typifies the characteristics of her protagonists.  She combines toughness with gentleness, spirituality with independence.  A Chilean native, Ms. Allende, through her actions and her novels, fought the Pinochet regime until its downfall in 1988.  Originally a journalist, she wrote her first novel, "The House of Spirits", in 1981 to bring attention to the brutality of the Pinochet regime.     

     Since becoming a Marin resident, Ms. Allende has greatly and purposefully lent her support to numerous philanthropic organizations and agencies which enrich our community.      

     Ms. Allende has received several honorary degrees and her books have received numerous awards including:  Best Novel of the Year-Panorama Literario, Chile, 1983;  Book of the Year, Germany, 1984; Grand Prix d'Evasion, France, 1984, Grand Prix de la Radio Television Belge, Belgium, 1985; Freedom to Write, Pen Club, USA 1991 and many others.

     To read more about Ms. Allende on her web site. www.isabelallende.com

Read the extended biography by Marianne Rogoff

DR. NAHID ANGHA
Religion
2005 

     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.

BETH ASHLEY
Business & Professions
1994

     From her first job as program director of a "start-up" radio station called KTIM, to her work as an editor of the China Daily in Beijing, Beth Ashley has had a rich and varied career.     

     Ms. Ashley has reflected Marin County's history to new readers and captured warm reminiscences for its long-time residents.  She has made us look at our responses to important issues by revealing her own thoughts and feelings to us.   She has helped everyone in Marin to grow and become more aware of who we are and where we are. 

     During the 1950's, she was one of two women news editors on daily newspapers in California.  During that period, she was elected President of the United Press Editor's Association of Northern California.  She had job offers from the two major newspapers in San Francisco, but turned them down because she preferred to work in Marin where she could be close to her children and be part of the local community.       

     Ms. Ashley has had her own public relations firm, traveled the world and written about it, captured the essence of Marin in her legendary columns and in her most recent book, "MARIN."  She also worked in 1990 in Moscow on Komsomolskaya Pravda and on USA Today in Washington in 1996.  She is a role model for success through hard work, perseverance, kindness and compassion.

Read the extended biography by Marilyn Geary

MARGARET B. AZEVEDO
Public Affairs
1994

     Not content to just identify problems, Margaret Azevedo has always been one of the few who solves them.  Ms. Azevedo moved to Marin County in 1951 and became involved with the local Democratic Party.  She chaired the successful campaign for reelection of Vera Schultz to the Board of Supervisors in 1956.  Shortly thereafter, she was appointed to the Marin County Planning Commission where she served almost continuously until 1979.     

     Her early experiences on the Planning Commission prompted her to spearhead a drive to develop a Countywide Plan.  This plan, the first of its kind in the state, defined corridors of land use in the county - inland, agricultural and urban.  She worked during the 1960's and 1970's to conserve the coast of Marin as a founding member of the Point Reyes National Seashore. In this capacity she helped to preserve the inland agricultural areas through the creation of Agricultural Preserves in central and west Marin,  enhanced the urban corridor with open space zoning and greenbelts, and expanded public transportation and programs for affordable  housing.  As chair of the Transportation Committee of the Marin Council of Civic Affairs, she played a pivotal role in the drive to bring public transportation to Marin.  Ms. Azevedo continues to serve the community today as a member of the State Coastal Conservancy.

Read the extended biography by Nancy Smith Harris

INIECE MONROE BAILEY
Community Service
1989

     A former educator, Iniece Bailey was a selfless and tireless worker for many causes.  A passionate activist for social and civil rights, she was co-founder of Operation Give a Damn, Inc., a Marin City based program, established in 1969, to  assist young people at risk.     

     Ms. Bailey was also co-founder of the Marin County and Mill Valley Human Rights Commissions. While serving on the boards of the ACLU, CORE, Adult Criminal Justice Commission, and the San Quentin Task Force, she furthered her efforts to end injustice by sensitizing others to its presence.  She was a founding member and ordained Elder of the St. Andrew Presbyterian Church in Marin City.     

     Steadfastly committed to children, she was a mother of four and a long-time foster parent.  She served as the Marin County Coordinator for the United Nations Year of the Child, and has the distinction of being the first African-American PTA President of Tamalpais High School.  She was also an early board member of Project Care for Children.       

     Ms. Bailey began her second career with the Department of Public Social Services as an Eligibility Worker. She then became a Supervisor for a unit of para-professional Social Work Assistants.  Ultimately, she became the Department's liaison to the County Head Start providers.     

     At the time of her death, she had been diligently working to pioneer an affordable child care center for infants and toddlers from low income families.  The Sausalito based Iniece Bailey Infant and Toddler Center was established in her honor.

Read the extended biography by Nancy Nakai

WINIFRED BAKER
Arts
1999

     Winifred Baker's musical and conducting excellence has brought the best of choral music works to audiences in Marin, the Bay Area, New York and Europe.  For forty years, she has conducted the Winifred Baker Chorale and San Francisco Civic Chorale.  The Chorales have performed with the San Francisco Symphony, the Marin Symphony, the San Francisco Civic Opera, the San Francisco Pops, and sang twice in New York's Carnegie Hall.     

     Ms. Baker has created a legacy of trained singers throughout the Bay Area and the country.  Some of the original members of her Chorales and Children's Chorus still sing with her, as do several of their children.  Others continue to bring musical talents they developed under her tutelage to choruses and audiences throughout the world.      

     The world of conducting is one that has been primarily populated by men.  Ms. Baker has ignored the musical glass ceiling by her perseverance, her energy, and her attention to excellence.  Ms. Baker has won respect from many, including Arthur Fiedler, Sandor Salgo, Peter Toboris  (who invited Winfred to conduct in Carnegie Hall) and Gary Sheldon, conductor of the Marin Symphony.  In 1976, she became the sixth woman invited to join the London-based Incorporated Society of Musicians in the Conductor's Section, sharing this honor with such notables as Benjamin Britten and George Solti.  Her impressive musical skills have dissolved barriers, paving the way for other women to perform and conduct in the great cathedrals and music halls of the world.     

     In addition to conducting her choruses, Ms. Baker is a Professor Emeritus at Dominican College and teaches piano classes on campus.  She is an active member of Marin Music Chest, passionately advocating for a return to music education in schools and colleges.  She has received numerous awards for her musical contributions including the "Distinguished Women Award" conferred by Dominican College, the San Francisco Arts Commission's "Award of Honor," the Women Musicians of San Francisco's "Musician of the Year" Award and the "Music Educator of the Year" Award, elected by the Marin Symphony, Marin Opera Company, Marin Ballet Company and Youth in Arts.  
     Winifred Baker's passion for musical beauty and her commitment to excellence has inspired her listeners, her students and her colleagues for over forty years.  She is a giant among musicians and a beacon for those who aspire to make a mark, whatever their chosen profession.

Read the extended biography by Barbara Euser

JEAN S. BARNARD
Public Affairs
1992

     Member of a pioneer Mill Valley family, Jean Barnard graduated from Vassar College in 1940 Phi Beta Kappa and first in her class with degrees in political science and music.  Concern for good government and the environment led her to monitor board meetings at various levels of local government which ultimately resulted in her election to the Mill Valley City Council, on which she served for 8 years, including 2 years as mayor.  In 1982, she ran unopposed for the Marin Municipal Water District Board and served two terms.     

     Ms. Barnard has worked on a variety of environmental causes including the creation of the Marin County Open Space District.  She led the battle to keep a high-rise community from being built in the Marin Headlands and the struggle to keep Bolinas Lagoon from being turned into a yacht harbor.  She pioneered the early recycling efforts in Mill Valley, and the effort to convince Congress to finish acquiring Pt. Reyes National Seashore.     

     She has been active in the AAUW since 1970 and was president of the Southern Marin Branch.  She has been Chair of Common Cause Marin and the Marin Chapter of the World Federalist Movement.  Ms. Barnard was active in the early years of Planned Parenthood of Marin and the League of Women Voters, and helped to launch the National Women's Political Caucus of Marin.

BEVERLY WRIGHT BASTIAN
Environment
2007

     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.

MELBA PATTILLO BEALS
Social Change
2002

       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

MARGIE BELROSE
Arts
1996

     Margie Belrose is founder and director of The Belrose School and Theatre in San Rafael.  At The "Belrose", Margie Belrose teaches, performs and directs.  Theater colleagues proclaim that Margie exemplifies the stage motto, "The show must go on." Through hard work and steadfast devotion to her dream, she has earned the respect of associates and audiences.  In 1954 she and her late husband, David, founded a school for performing arts in Marin.  The Belrose School and Theatre today offer Marinites affordable theater, and opportunities to act, write, produce and direct.  Belrose has taught dance, music, acting and singing to generations of local families.  Her tenacity and perseverance have served her through the years when she has been called upon to surmount overwhelming odds.      

     Abandoned as a child, she lived in an orphanage except for short periods with her aunt and father.  After graduating from high school she moved to San Francisco where she met and married one of her dance teachers.  The sudden death of her husband in 1971 left her alone to raise her two children while operating The Belrose School and Theatre.  Today, with her son, she operates a large non-profit costume shop that benefits the Belrose Performing Arts Center scholarship program.  One of her programs is the Belrose Jr. Players for children eight to fifteen years of age.  She provides scholarships for children to enable them to participate in Junior Players and the Belrose Musical Summer Camp program that has been in operation since 1978.

Read the extended biography by Marilyn L. Geary.

SYLVIA BOORSTEIN
Religion
2006  

   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.

BARBARA BOXER
Public Affairs
1991

     A 1962 graduate of Brooklyn College with a B.S. degree in Economics, Ms. Boxer stepped into the Wall Street scene as a stockbroker and economic researcher.  As an award-winning journalist in the 1970's, Ms. Boxer's special assignment at the Pacific Sun was to report the activities of the County Board of Supervisors.  Active in community affairs, she was a founding member of the Marin Economic Corps which provided job training for low-income women, the National Women's Political Caucus of Marin, and Marin Community Video.  After two years as a Congressional Aide to John Burton, Ms. Boxer was elected to the Marin County Board of Supervisors where she was the first woman to ever become its president.     

     In 1982, Ms. Boxer was elected to represent the Sixth Congressional District.  She became known as an effective and strong advocate for women, children, peace and the environment.  In 1992, she was elected to the United States Senate.     

     Barbara Boxer has been honored in Congress by the Consumer Federation of America, the Coalition to Stop Government Waste, Planned Parenthood, the League of Conservation Voters, Public Citizen, Sierra Club, the Center for Environmental Education, the Center for Defense Information and the American Association of University Women.  She has been recognized as a champion of Human rights by the Anti-Defamation League, the Human Rights Campaign Fund, and the Leadership Council on Civil Rights.

LOUISE A. BOYD
Science
1992 

     Born to great wealth, Louise Arner Boyd had the options that a life without financial concerns promised.  In place of comfort, she chose the challenges of sub-zero temperatures, scientific exploration, polar bears, and cramped living quarters.  Starting in the 1920's, she took the highly unusual path of becoming an explorer of the Arctic.  In recognition of her endeavors a portion of Greenland was named "Miss  Boyd Land" and a waterway was named "Louise Boyd Bank".  During her lifetime, Ms. Boyd went on seven arctic expeditions by ship and dog sled, conducting scientific research, including geological studies to determine the origin and history of the fjords and glaciated valleys in Greenland.  She photographed all aspects of her expeditions, often taking the first pictures of the native people and the regions studies.     

     The maps provided to the expeditions were often incorrect.  She corrected these errors and new maps were drawn.  Plant ecology studies, collection of botanical specimens, the analysis of cloud formations and water conditions, and recording the depths of the region's waterways were all parts of her expeditions.  During World War II, her knowledge of the Arctic area made her an invaluable resource to the American Navy.  She also served as a consultant to military intelligence throughout much of the war.  She received numerous awards and honors for her distinguished scientific work.  At age 67, Louise Boyd chartered an American DC4 and, flying from Oslo, Norway, became the first woman to fly over the North Pole.  Louise Boyd was also a generous patron of the arts, supporting numerous organizations throughout her life.

KAY BOYLE
Arts
1995

    Kay Boyle was a renowned poet, teacher and author of poetry, short story collectives and numerous articles.  For twenty years her short stories in the New Yorker helped to define literary form.  As a woman in a man's profession, she served as the New Yorker's foreign correspondent in the 1940's.      

     Encouraged by  her mother to become a writer, despite formal education ending at the eighth grade, Ms. Boyle defined her writing as an expatriate in the "lost generation" colony of artist and writers in the Paris of the 1920's.     

     The accomplishments of which she was most proud were her teaching and humanitarian work.  She was a professor of English at  San Francisco State University for eighteen years, retiring at age 77.  As a passionate woman with strong convictions, she sought to better the world by fighting Nazism and McCarthyism, by focusing on the anti-war and civil rights movements, and by founding the San Francisco Chapter of Amnesty International.     

     Her awards and honors were legion: O. Henry prizes for short stories, fellowships, and a California Literature medal.   She was one of the few women admitted to the National Institute of Arts & Letters and continued her writing after moving from San Francisco to Marin in 1989.  In 1989, she was honored by the Women's Foundation for her contributions to the causes of peace, freedom and human rights.

Read the extended biography by Daryl Siegel

     Ann Brebner is helping to change the face of downtown San Rafael through her successful efforts to renovate and restore the Rafael Theater as a permanent home for the Film Institute of Northern California which produces the Mill Valley Film Festival.     

     As a past Board President and current member of the Board of Directors she has, by the strength of her vision, her sensitivity and integrity helped developed the Film Institute into a substantial, widely respected, broadly-based arts organization.  She is a founder of the Marin Shakespeare Festival, and of Northern California Women in Film and has served as an advisor to Bread and Roses and is a director of the Pickle Family Circus.  She was also instrumental in the development of the College of Marin drama program and its theater.     

     A native of New Zealand, Ms. Brebner abandoned her pursuit of a career as a concert pianist and applied herself first to medicine and finally to theater arts.  She studied all aspects of theater at London's famous Old Vic Theatre School and has directed in New York and the Bay Area.  She was President of Brebner Agencies Inc., a respected agency in San Francisco representing writers and actors.  Ever fascinated by why we do, what we do and how actors function, she is the author of "Setting Free the Actor; Overcoming Creative Blocks."  She as two sons, Alexander and Jay.

Read the extended biography by Nancy Nakai

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.

    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