About Maryvale

In 1856, at the corner of what was then Macy and Alameda Streets, the Daughters of Charity founded the Los Angeles Orphan Asylum to serve the needs of orphaned children in a fast-growing city. In 1891 that piece of property was sold to the Southern Pacific Railroad, and what was soon to become Union Station was born.

The orphanage, meanwhile, was moved to Boyle Heights and then again, in 1953, to Rosemead and renamed Maryvale, where today the Daughters of Charity and their staff serve the many needs of children who may have parents but who are equally as needy. Many have become wards of the court, or as Maryvale calls them, "orphans of the living," children who are victims in society.

On Nov. 13 --- at Union Station, the site of the orphanage's founding --- Maryvale celebrated 150 years of helping "each child achieve fulfillment, dignity and self-esteem in an environment of stability and love," as is said in their Mission Statement. The 150-year celebration also allowed Maryvale to honor two long-standing supporters who have generously stood by Maryvale during the last 50 years or more.

Paul Johansing first came to serve Maryvale through the Los Angeles Orphanage Guild in the 1950s, as a member of the Maryvale advisory board in 1967, and has continued his support of Maryvale to the present. Voula Waters has been a member of the Los Angeles Orphanage Guild for the past 48 years, served as a president of the Guild, and, with Johansing, co-chaired Maryvale's Building Development Committee in the late 1980s.