Conference Chair Deserves Credit

Thank you for your coverage of the Pasadena Women’s Conference, sponsored by the Commission on the Status of Women, in the San Gabriel Valley View section of the L.A. Times on Wednesday, March 21. This year’s conference was attended by over 350 women, more than in any past year.

While your article was excellent, I feel compelled to point out one major omission: the name of the Chair of the 1990 Pasadena Women’s Conference, Emily Ballance, was not mentioned.

A conference of this size required a tremendous amount of work and Ms. Ballance put in hundreds of hours of volunteer time to make the event a real success.

A newcomer to the Commission on the Status of Women, she worked with a Planning Committee of 18 members, beginning in October, 1989. She led this group in obtaining financial support from co-sponsoring organizations, deciding what issues to address in the 21 workshops, contacting and confirming 43 workshop leaders and panelists, coordinating arrangements for 32 display tables for community groups, writing the brochure, securing keynote speaker (state) Senator Diane Watson (who was excellent!) and many more tasks demanding time and expertise.

When anyone works this hard on a volunteer basis--and has such success--she (or he) should be recognized! I saw first-hand the contributions Ms. Ballance made to this year’s conference.

Again, we appreciate the excellent coverage, but I hope The Times will join us in giving credit where credit is due. Thank you.

REBECCA CHAPMAN

Member, 1990 Pasadena Women’s

Conference Planning Committee