Nine South Bay residents will be honored...

Nine South Bay residents will be honored as “Women of the Year” by the Torrance YWCA at noon on June 3 at the Torrance Holiday Inn.

Pam Edwards of Redondo Beach is founder and president of Cheer for Children, a South Bay charity that helps acutely ill and orthopedically handicapped children. She is co-founder of “The Taste of the South Bay,” which benefits three South Bay charities, and participates in other community service activities.

Mary Green of Rancho Palos Verdes helped set up the blood donor replacement program at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, works as a volunteer at Torrance Memorial Hospital Medical Center and serves as a volunteer or board member of numerous other service organizations.

Leah Jeffries of Torrance, deputy to county Supervisor Deane Dana, has assisted Torrance charitable and service groups in their efforts to secure funding, including the court referral program for the Volunteer Center, the Bartlett Center, Salvation Army, South Bay Juvenile Diversion, South Bay Free Clinic and Serenity House.

Marilyn Kammerer of Torrance, director of volunteers at Little Company of Mary Hospital, is responsible for implementing the Medical Explorer program. The program, affiliated with the Boy Scouts of America, offers young people ages 14 to 20 exposure to the hospital environment. She has also implemented a number of other local volunteer programs.

Janet Payne of Torrance is serving a third term as president of the Torrance Historical Society and has been involved in the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Organizing Committee, the Volunteer Center, Rose Float Assn., Friendship Festival, Torrance Parks and Recreation Commission, and others.

Barbara Hester of Torrance has served 22 years as principal in various Torrance elementary schools and is now principal at Walteria Elementary. She has played a significant role as a model for women, both as a college student when she worked for the Torrance Parks and Recreation Department, teaching tennis and organizing the city’s original girls and women’s softball league, and as an educator and volunteer.

Bernice Stoneberg of Torrance helped organize the 18-year-old San Pedro Meals on Wheels, served as a part-time volunteer cook and later became the kitchen manager and head cook. She manages between 25 and 30 volunteers each week. In 1987, with her volunteer helpers, she planned, prepared and cooked 28,420 meals.

Leila Andrews of Redondo Beach spent 44 years as an educator with the Redondo Beach School District, then started a career as a volunteer with the South Bay Hospital Auxiliary. In 1970 she helped create “House Calls,” serving for 18 years as chairman of the program, which provides daily calls to aged or very ill people who live alone. She has also been active in a number of other service organizations.

Linda S. Croyts of Lomita is involved in scouting, school, church, community and civic organizations. She is a charter member and a founding director of the Lomita Sister City Assn., and has played host to at least nine Japanese students and two adults. She is president of the Lomita Historical Society and has served on the South Bay Juvenile Diversion Advisory Board.

Four students from Carson High School have won $25 third prizes in the Skirball Essay Contest on “The Importance of Values in American Society.” They are Nicole Estrada, Elizabeth Marie Garcia, Min Ho Kim and Martha Acosta Rios. The prizes were awarded by Leonard Britton, superintendent of the Los Angeles Unified School District, during recent ceremonies at Lawry’s California Center. Among those serving as judges were novelist Irving Stone and Times columnist Jack Smith. Participating in the essay contest were high school students from throughout the school district and the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. The contest was sponsored by the Skirball Institute on American Values of the American Jewish Committee to prompt local students to write about the values they feel are of greatest significance in America today.

Rancho Palos Verdes resident David T. Sun, founder of Carson-based Sun Computers, has been selected as a distinguished alumnus at Cal State Long Beach. A university spokesman said Sun is the third largest personal computer retailer in Los Angeles County. Sun opened his first store in 1980, the same year he earned his master’s degree in business administration from CSULB. Today, the Shanghai-born Sun and his wife, Betty, own 11 stores in Southern California, two in Seattle and two in Hong Kong.

Three South Bay board members of the United Way Harbor/Southeast region have received the Charles A. Pollak service award for special volunteers who have served on the board for more than 10 years. They are: Arthur F. Gardner of Rancho Palos Verdes; James H. Gray, chairman of the board of Harbor Bank, and D. Loring Marlett.

Roberta Cohen of Manhattan Beach has been honored with a Prudential Partners in Community Service grant to provide $1,000 to the Wellness Community-South Bay Cities. Cohen, a Prudential agent, has been involved as a volunteer with the Wellness Community, which provides free psycho-social support for people with cancer and their families.