Riverside school district trustee

Maxine Pierce Frost, 76, who served 40 years as a trustee in the Riverside Unified School District, died Nov. 27 of cancer at her home in Riverside, according to her son, Doug.

Elected to the board of trustees in 1967, Frost saw the Riverside district grow from about 23,000 students to 43,000 during her tenure.

A native of Janesville, Wis., Frost was a young girl when she moved with her parents to California. After graduating from Huntington Park Senior High School, she earned a bachelor’s degree in history from Stanford University.

While at Stanford, she met Matt Frost, who would become her husband. The couple settled in the Inland Empire, where he became a successful banker.

Before her election to the board of trustees, Frost served on the district’s desegregation committee, which supported the district’s 1965 decision to voluntarily integrate its schools, the Press-Enterprise in Riverside reported in its obituary of Frost.

In addition to her board work, Frost was past president of the California Assn. of Suburban Schools and president of the Affiliates of UC Riverside.

She was appointed by then-Gov. George Deukmejian to serve on the Education Commission of the States.