Home of The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens Vol. 90 No. 2
San Marino, Friday, January 11, 2019
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Las Madrinas Benefits Children’s Hospital Los Angeles
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Mayor Huang’s Town Hall Address Highlights City’s Goals for Upcoming Year By Skye Hannah SENIOR REPORTER
A LEGACY OF SERVICE: Twenty-eight local young ladies debuted at the Las Madrinas Ball, which was held in December at the Beverly Hilton Hotel. PICTURED ABOVE, left to right, are FRONT ROW: Isabel Ruth Murr, Abigail Lawrence Burner, Nina McNicholas Adams, Gabriela Inez Bennett, Madeline Davey Pernecky, Catherine Margaret Rozelle, Madeleine Elita Hotaling and Bridget Arlene Stokdyk. SECOND ROW: Bridget Gately O’Callahan, Eleanor Kate Holdsworth, Chloe Antonia Spain, Christine Elizabeth Crowell, Angela Nadine Sarni, Kerry Elizabeth Larson, Katherine Locke Luhnow, Kristin Leigh Larson, Cinnia Alyce Smith, Lily Anne O’Donnell, Isabel Ference Wiatt, Elizabeth Henderson Dick and Dorothy Maura Flanagan. TOP ROW: Sarah Margaret Stokes, Cameron Dunne Smith, Serena Ann McDermott, Kathryn Taylor LeBaron, Elizabeth Hoffman Shepherd, Louisa McCann Miller and Isabella Catherine Tracy. Nick Boswell Photography
During the holiday season, Las Madrinas honored twenty-seven families and their daughters for their service to the Southern California community and Children’s Hospital Los Angeles at the
Maureen Bryant, Legendary SMHS Teacher, Coach, Passes Away
Las Madrinas Ball, which was held on December 2 at the Beverly Hilton Hotel. Over 800 guests from the greater Los Angeles area, including the twenty-eight Debutantes, their families and friends, gathered to celebrate
with the members of Las Madrinas. Las Madrinas President Mrs. Douglas Andrew Thompson (Kathy), formally welcomed the families and guests in attendance and thanked everyone for joining Las
Madrinas in its support of the research programs at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles. She spoke of the current project, the Las Madrinas Endowment for the Chief of Neurology See MADRINAS page A-8
City Club Talk Will Address The Kathy Fiscus Tragedy Guest Speaker William Deverell Releasing Book On Incident This Fall By Mitch Lehman
EDITOR OF THE TRIBUNE
MAUREEN BRYANT
By Mitch Lehman
EDITOR OF THE TRIBUNE
One of the true icons of local education has passed away. Maureen Bryant, who for forty years served as a teacher and coach at San Marino High School, died on Tuesday morning after a long, but quiet battle with cancer. Bryant coached a record 14 boys’ and girls’ tennis teams to CIF championships at SMHS, including a remarkable total of six between the years See BRYANT page A-5
It was a story that put San Marino on the map, and for not the most uplifting of reasons. On April 8, 1949 a three-year-old girl named Kathy Fiscus fell down an old abandoned well located on the current site of San Marino High School’s Titan Stadium. Unfortunately, despite all efforts, Kathy could not be saved. The rescue attempt received nationwide attention in the United States, as KTLA and a team that included reporter Stan Chambers carried it live on radio and television. The event was covered on scene for a 27-½ hour period. It is considered a watershed event in TV history, as it is recognized as the first live coverage of a breaking news story. The tragedy will be the subject of William Deverell’s presentation to the San Marino City Club on Tuesday, January 15. A Professor of History
KATHY FISCUS
BILL DEVERELL
at USC and Director of the Huntington-USC Institute on California and the West, Deverell will in the fall be releasing a book about the Kathy Fiscus story. His presentation marks the buildup to the 70th anniversary of Kathy’s death and Deverell will be revealing new information on the tragedy based on recent findings. “As you know, this has been a passion of mine, regardless of its sad, tragic outcome,” Deverell said earlier this week. There was a longstanding belief that the well Kathy fell into was located on the upper field at
San Marino High School on the northwest border of the campus, where a plaque memorializes her all-too-brief existence. Other opinions have placed the site under the third tennis court, but Deverell believes the well in which Kathy lost her life—the Johnson Well, one of six operated by the California Water & Telephone Company at the time—was actually located between the east end zone and inside lane of the track at Titan Stadium. One of the many tragic ironies of the story is that Kathy’s father, Dave Fiscus, worked for the CaliSee KATHY page A-8
The first Town Hall meeting of 2019 and the first-ever with newly elected Mayor Dr. Steven Huang was held Monday, January 7 in the Crowell Public Library’s Barth Community Room. Approximately 20 residents and civic leaders attended. The meeting included achievements that each department achieved in 2018 and targeted goals for 2019. The Town Hall meeting is the first of a series to be held for the general public on the first Monday of each month at 6:00 p.m. at the library, according to City Manager Dr. Marcella Marlowe. Huang said he views the meetings as a way to gain direct perspective from residents. “I kind of want to get feedback from these meetings and see what [residents] want,” said Huang. Residents brought up attention points on the future of diagonal parking on Huntington Drive in upcoming Public Safety Commission meetings, rainwater collection barrels and glass window standards in construction. In the presentation, Huang touched on the
City Manager’s Office goals to overhaul the budget process to ensure “transparency and success,” as well as launching an in-depth social media presence and fully implementing Envisio, the city’s new Strategic See HUANG page A-8
Council to Approve Tree Ordinance, Financial Forecast By Skye Hannah SENIOR REPORTER
At its meeting on Wednesday, Jan. 9, the San Marino City Council was expected to approve an ordinance for the preservation of trees, approve an ordinance adding definitions for smoke shops, tobacco paraphernalia and tobacco products and to prohibit smoke shops in the C-1 commercial zone, and receive a summary report of financial activity as part of a 30year financial forecast. The City Council See ORDINANCE page A-8
TITANIUM ROBOTICS Robotics Kicks Off Its ‘Deep Space’ Program
President Olivia Cameron and Vice Presidents Stella Yao and Will Cockrum discuss plans with Titanium Robotics members at Saturday morning’s kickoff meeting. Mitch Lehman Photo
By Edmond Wen
SPECIAL TO THE TRIBUNE
This past weekend marked the exciting kickoff of First Robotics Competition’s (FRC) 30th season with Destination: Deep Space, 2019’s FRC game. This year, each robotics team is part of a deep space mission reminiscent of Andy Weir’s ma-
jor motion picture “The Martian.” Alliances’ robots must race to replace missing hatch panels on a rocket and load the rockets with cargo all in time to return to the safe “habitat” before a sandstorm sweeps in. Destination: Deep Space will heavily emphasize an individual team’s ability to efficiently complete a plethora of See DEEP SPACE page A-3
Chen Elected Superior Court Commissioner San Marino attorney Frank W. Chen has been elected by the judges of the Los Angeles Superior Court to become the Los Angeles Superior Court’s newest Court Commissioner and will take the oath of office later this month for his new assignment. Chen, a graduate of Stanford University and UCLA School of Law, was admitted to the California State Bar in 1988. He is a former president of the SouthSee FRANK page A-3
GOING ON NOW
FRANK CHEN
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