South Bay

A DAUGHTER’S TRIBUTE: A Simi Valley woman is hoping to pen the memoir of her deceased mother Marquetta (Marky) Shultz, a longtime Gardena resident believed to be one of the first educators in California to include parents in the instruction of preschool children.

In June, nearly a year after Shultz’s death, her daughter Melody Hobson began looking for friends, colleagues and former students of her mother to contribute to a book Hobson hopes to write on Shultz’s life.

Shultz taught for 20 years in Gardena and other parts of the South Bay.

“She was really an incredible woman,” Hobson said. “I think other people should know about her.” Hobson has already received about 20 responses from former acquaintances.