The names of 11 women have been...

The names of 11 women have been added to the archives of “Women in the History of Torrance” by the Torrance Historical Society and the American Assn. of University Women, Torrance branch.

They are: Torrance businesswomen Ella Levy Schwartz and Mary Pagac; Dorothy Baker, past president of the Torrance Board of Education; Margaret Denmarsh Collin, first woman principal, Torrance Unified School District; Mikko Haggott-Hensen, a founder of the Torrance Sister City Assn.; Dee Hardison, second woman to be elected to the Torrance City Council; the late Harriett Leech, first woman elected to a city office and city treasurer for 21 years; the late Elizabeth Parks, girls’ vice principal at Torrance High School and later at Narbonne High; Helen Jewett Rogers, first woman high school principal at Torrance High School; Polly Watts, past president and eight-year member of the Torrance Board of Education; Gail Wickstrom, first woman assistant superintendent of schools, Torrance Unified School District. Information and pictures of the women are on display at the Torrance main library, 3301 Torrance Blvd.

Sister Patricia Nicholson, of the order of St. Joseph of Carondelet, has been elected vice president of the Inglewood Ministers Assn. Sister Nicholson, director of pastoral care at Daniel Freeman Memorial Hospital, is the first woman to hold an elected office in the association.

Alice Buchanan is the recipient of the 1988 Service to Mankind Award of the Sertoma Club of Inglewood. Buchanan is a 15-year member of the volunteer staff at Daniel Freeman Memorial Hospital. Working four to five days a week, she has amassed 19,682 volunteer hours, representing nearly 10 years of full-time work.

Dr. Donald M. Okada of Rancho Palos Verdes has been elected president of the medical staff at Little Company of Mary Hospital in Torrance. Okada, an obstetrician-gynecologist, joined the staff in 1977. Other hospital staff officers for 1988 are Dr. Armon Toomajian of San Pedro, vice president, and Dr. Irwin Goldberg of Palos Verdes Estates, secretary-treasurer.

Kaiser Permanente employees Marge Madrid of San Pedro and Pauline Jackson of Carson are recipients of the Torch Awards, the highest recognition given to employees of the center in Harbor City. Madrid is an administrative patient representative and has been a Kaiser Permanente employee for 27 years. Jackson, a registered nurse, is a pediatric nursing supervisor and has been with Kaiser Permanente since 1972. Torch Award winners are selected by employees.

Physician-astronaut and San Pedro High School graduate Dr. Anna Fisher will be the recipient of the Olive View Medical Center Foundation’s Award for Health Education and Research. Fisher, who is based at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, will receive the award at the Registry Hotel in Universal City on April 22. Fisher was selected as an astronaut in 1978 and served on the second flight of the Discovery, the first space salvage mission in history. She logged 192 hours in space.

South Bay resident Stan Bosler has retired after more than 20 years as an educator at Lennox and Hawthorne high schools. Most recently he was the work-experience counselor at Hawthorne, which he joined in 1973 after 16 years at Lennox.

Twelve area volunteers have received the Silver Beaver Award of the Boy Scouts of America. Recipients of the award, the highest recognition given by a local Boy Scout council, are: Dr. Richard W. Chambers, Barbara O. Courtois, Richard J. Ferris, Cathy Fleming, Leonard Guzzo, Usami Komatsu, Marilyn S. Kunz, John T. Latimore, Steven J. Rothans, Herbert G. Taylor, David L. Tomblin and Walter L. Willis.

Dr. Michael J. Smith, who practices in Torrance, was installed as a member of the board of trustees of the Southern California Veterinary Medical Assn.

Lorene Hicks is the new president of the Women’s Assn. of the First Presbyterian Church of Inglewood. She succeeded LaRue Wright, who remains on the executive board.

Dr. J. Usha Raj and Dr. Michael G. Ross recently accepted checks totaling $30,000 to continue their research in the cause and prevention of birth defects. The checks were presented by Don Gardner of Hawthorne on behalf of the March of Dimes Birth Defects Foundation to support the work of the two investigators at the Research and Education Institute at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center. Raj, a pediatrician, resides in Manhattan Beach. Ross, an obstetrician and gynecologist, lives in Santa Monica.

South Bay women were honored during a Community Assembly at Temple Menorah in Redondo Beach for outstanding community leadership and volunteerism. They include Roz Gotlieb, Frieda Stahl, Harriet Apsel, Frances Kurofsky, Linda Feldman, Vivian M. Barnert and Goldie Katanick. The event was co-sponsored by Jewish Family Service, Southern Region Women’s Conference of the Jewish Federation Council.