Early Community Supporters

Key members of Childrens Hospital Los Angeles community significantly contributed to the making of the hospital of today.  Below is a Who's Who list of our earliest supporters. 

Mrs. J. B. Banning: Selected to head the Entertainment Committee and demonstrated considerable talent at devising effective and engaging ways to raise money.

Mrs. L.E.M. Brainerd: Selected as the first president of the organization. She was a woman of formidable energy who urged the participation of women in public affairs. Even before women could vote nationwide she was appointed to city commissions and in later years served on the Board of Directors of the Bank of America.

Chief of Staff Guy Cochran, M.D.: Urged that the hospital focus not only on treating children but on a broader duty to community, public health, research and medical education.

Kate Page Crutcher: The vital force and long-term president of the Childrens Hospital Society, provided continuity and direction in the crucial years 1907 to 1947 when the hospital evolved from a volunteer service in a small house to a major pediatric facility.

Mary Duque: Played a pivotal role in the hospital's history. Proposed the organization of new women's groups to be called "Guilds," greatly enlarging the support of the hospital.  Later, the hospital expanded its support groups to incorporate the Associates & Affiliates.

Mrs. L.C. Goodwin: Deeded to the Childrens Hospital Society a property located on Broadway between Fifth and Sixth streets. The lease on the property yielded $3,000 a year to the Society and funds could be borrowed for improvements at the present site. The Goodwin gift would become important in the hospital's move into more modern quarters 10 years later.

Mrs. Emma Phillips: Included a bequest in her will to Childrens Hospital Society for a building site and play yard. In her will she included cash gifts to be applied to construction and landscaping. This unexpected bequest would deed to the Society almost four acres of land situated in a largely undeveloped, remote part of the city, the southeast corner of Sunset Boulevard and Vermont Avenue. Such a generous gift would hasten realization of a permanent, well-equipped hospital.

Dr. LeMoyne Wills: A professional philanthropist known as a colorful figure in the social and civic life of the city. The need for a children's hospital became a passion for Dr. Wills and so he became an enthusiastic supporter. 

Mrs. E.A. Williams: Mrs. Jennie Horrell, Mrs. G.W. Smith and Mrs. W.P. Lewis are remembered as early leaders of the hospital movement. Proceeds from their needlework financed the printed handbills that circulated the city.

Dr. John Cree Wilson: Served as the hospital's first intern in 1912, sleeping on a cot in the back of the small hospital at 769 Castelar Street. Following his internship he studied pediatrics and orthopedics at Boston University, later serving in the army during WWI.

He returned to Childrens Hospital Los Angeles after the war and later served as the hospital's dedicated chief of staff. His son Dr. John C. Wilson, Jr. would become head of the division of Orthopaedic Surgery at Childrens Hospital in 1963. The John C. Wilson, Jr. Chair of pediatric Orthopaedic Surgery was named in his memory.