Lillian (Billie) Maguire was educated at Wake Forest University and the University of Edinburgh. Her master’s degree was received from Bank Street College of Education in New York City. In 1998 she was awarded an honorary doctorate from the Claremont Graduate University honoring her advocacy for children.
Among many awards, she was named by the Claremont Rotary Club as a Paul A. Harris Fellow, receiving the Bradley “Service Above Self” Award. Casa Colina Hospital designated her a “Friend of Children.” She has received the Pomona Inland Valley Council of Churches’ Service Award as well as the American Red Cross’ Distinguished Service Award. In 2002 she received the Silver Service Award for Women of Achievement from the YWCA of the West End, honoring eight of 200 outstanding Inland Valley women who had previously received the award during the past quarter century. She founded and for many years coordinated the East End of Los Angeles County ChildWatch, an affiliate of the Children’s Defense Fund, whose annual conference she co-chaired in 1997 in Los Angeles. She coordinated the annual Pomona Kid’s Care Fair for seven years and serves on a number of boards concerned with children’s issues. Her primary activity currently is as President of the Children’s Advocacy Center, a unique service that provides forensic interviews and referral services for sexually abused children and their families.
Maguire chaired the Claremont Youth Partnership from 2001 until 2006. She is the administrator of an endowment fund created by the Board of Trustees of Claremont Graduate University and named for her to raise the consciousness of the town and gown communities to the plight and needs of children through the annual Lillian P. Maguire Social Advocacy Forum. In 1999 she received the Award for Lifetime Leadership from the national Children’s Defense Fund.
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