Mary Duque

Mary Duque, the indefatigable altruist who helped raise more than $100 million for Childrens Hospital Los Angeles, died Sunday night. She was believed to be 87. Michelle Barker, a spokeswoman for the hospital, said Mrs. Duque died in her sleep at her Hancock Park home. For more than 40 years--and at an average rate of nearly $3 million a year--Mrs. Duque raised money so crippled children could learn to walk again and sick children could return to their homes and classrooms.

Mary Duque, the indefatigable altruist who helped raise more than $100 million for Childrens Hospital Los Angeles, died Sunday night. She was believed to be 87. Michelle Barker, a spokeswoman for the hospital, said Mrs. Duque died in her sleep at her Hancock Park home. For more than 40 years--and at an average rate of nearly $3 million a year--Mrs. Duque raised money so crippled children could learn to walk again and sick children could return to their homes and classrooms.

Asingle twist of a lightbulb launched last weekend's centennial celebration gala that netted more than $750,000 for Childrens Hospital Los Angeles. The festivities began just after sunset when CNN's Larry King joined gala co-chairs Joni and Clark Smith and hospital trustee Patty Brown to illuminate the hospital's new "100 Years" sign--which signaled a shower of fireworks.

There was a megaton of superwoman power on the dais saluting another megaton of superwoman power when the Junior League of Los Angeles celebrated its age--a graceful 60--this week at the Century Plaza Tower. For the finale, 500 women, young and older, stood, with Pat Meek leading, and sang "Happy Birthday" to themselves as a gigantic white cake with blazing candles was wheeled in. Petite and brown-haired Eve Lee, president in 1935-36, was among those singing.

The white satin gloves were high above the elbows, the white gowns gleamed and billowed and 26 young ladies curtsied at the elegant Las Madrinas Debutante Ball Friday in the International Ballroom of the Beverly Hilton. Las Madrinas president Janice Carpenter, wearing a Michael Novarese gown and attending with her husband, Robert Hudson Carpenter, welcomed 900 white-tie guests to "Christmas a L'Orangerie."

A local philanthropist donated $38.3 million for research at Childrens Hospital Los Angeles in what is believed to be the largest estate gift ever to a U.S. children's hospital, officials said Wednesday. The donation came from the estate of Fern McAlister, who died in February at 93, said Walter Noce Jr., the hospital's president and chief executive.

Those who give of their time and worldly goods for children in need often do so from the heart. Two cases in point: H. Russell Smith, the just-retiring chairman of Childrens Hospital of Los Angeles, and Mary Duque, president. Russell and Jeanne Smith recently endowed a chair in brain surgery in the name of their late grandson, Cameron Smith (son of Stewart and Patricia Smith of San Marino), who died last June at Childrens Hospital after a 10-year battle with cancer.

Planet Swan, 17, assumed the worst of a debutante--stuck-up, pampered rich girls--until she became one. "I thought it was this negative thing, but I was wrong," said Planet of Sherman Oaks. "The girls are not like the image." Planet, along with 11 other seniors from private San Fernando Valley high schools, will attend the debutante ball Saturday at the Regent Beverly Wilshire Hotel in Beverly Hills.

When Mary Duque reports to work on Thursdays, she is greeted by a cacophony of wails, yowls and yips. As the Burbank Animal Shelter volunteer walks through a long corridor of cages, dogs rush to the doors--jumping, scratching, demanding acknowledgment. Duque has something to say to nearly each one. "Nobody's come to fetch you, huh?" she said recently to a blue-eyed husky-collie mix, who was staring through the cage, bewildered, slowly wagging its tail. "This one came in a week ago.

This must be some sort of milestone: The Spirit of Friendship Award Dinner for the California Special Olympics on Nov. 14 in the International Ballroom of the Beverly Hilton was sold out before the invitations were mailed. That says a lot for the organizational abilities of the chairman Peter Mullin and the dinner committee including Stephen H. Ackerman, Barbara Allen, Celeste Anlauf, James Merrill, Sabrina Nucciarone, Barbara Jo Peterson, Jeffrey V.

It began with four beds and a handful of volunteers in a tiny Victorian cottage, but two wealthy mothers' unshakable concern for the ailing children of the poor ultimately transformed Childrens Hospital of Los Angeles into a world leader in pediatric medicine. The original facility's volunteers were members of the King's Daughters Day Nursery, a genteel group of turn-of-the-century ladies who were encouraged by a prominent local surgeon and horseman, Dr.