Evelyn Gratts; School Volunteer, Namesake of Elementary Campus

Evelyn Thurman Gratts, 89, tireless volunteer in the Los Angeles Unified School District, which this month named an elementary school for her. The naming of the school at 3rd Street and Lucas Avenue in her Echo Park-Westlake neighborhood on Feb. 5 honored a life of service by Gratts to schoolchildren. She was instrumental in bringing Head Start to the Los Angeles schools, organized a parent group to ward off gang fights at her alma mater, Belmont High School, and lobbied for a school swimming program. A native Angeleno who was baptized in Echo Park Lake, Gratts raised five children, worked as a masseuse and ran a boardinghouse. She was also a devoted volunteer in schools and her Echo Park community. She was founder and president of the Westlake Hills Senior Citizens and served as senior representative to the Los Angeles City Human Relations Commission. In 1993, she earned a special award for outstanding service from the Volunteer Center of Los Angeles. On Friday in Los Angeles.