I was delighted to see Tenaya Bookout's story about the anniversary of the Mariposa Pre-school Co-op (Lifestyles, Aug. 5) but sorry that it did not credit Judy DeVries' extraordinary effort to create it 35 years ago.

Judy, a trained and experienced Montessori teacher and new mother, wanted a pre-school for our own children and those of our friends and neighbors. She wanted kids here in Mariposa to get the kind of running start on learning that competent early childhood education offers. She started the pre-school in a building at the fairgrounds and then moved it to Darrah School. She got county permission, fixed and equipped the building, obtained a state license, got insurance, found a wonderful aide in the late Doris Boyle, and she helped launch dozens of kids into productive lives and schooling.

The pre-school made Judy a well-known person in Mariposa and in 1978 she was elected to the Mariposa County Unified School District Board of Trustees, the first woman and first Mariposa newcomer to break into local electoral politics. Perhaps without her, there might by now be a preschool in Mariposa anyway, but it certainly would not have been supporting our children and families for these 35 years.

Tom DeVries