50 Years of Montessori in Orange County: Timeline

Written by POC Staff Writer

50 Years of Montessori in Orange County Timeline

By Noë Gold

Montessori Arrives in the OC
1962		First Montessori school in Orange County opened its doors in 1962 off Chapman Avenue in Fullerton. The eighth Montessori school in SoCal was named Clavis.
1965		Primanti Montessori School in Whittier debuts, featuring unique architecture modeled after a Montessori school in Holland and specially equipped classrooms. Dr. Primanti’s son had been in Mrs. Roston’s school.
1970		Dr. Anne Perrah begins teaching in her home, naming it Montessori Children’s House in Cypress. She arrived in So. Cal. in late 1966 and taught at an already-established Montessori school in West Garden Grove.
1971		Mrs. Roston, along with one of her students, is presented with a plaque on the Dinah Shore show.
A Heritage of Learning by Doing
1973		Mario Montessori, Dr. Maria’s son and a longtime family friend, attends a dinner for Mrs. Roston, center.
1974		Qudsia Roston presents an award to Dr. Buckminster Fuller at her school in Orange.
1985		Mrs. Roston surveys the former home of Senator John Murdy before its transformation into the Heritage Montessori HB school.
The Method Grows in the Orange Garden
2000		Heritage Montessori Executive Director Rehanna Eaton (Mrs. Roston’s daughter), a third generation Montessorian, receives the “2009 Women Making A Difference” award from Senator Lou Correa
2009		Peter LePort, a medical doctor-cum-educator, opens the first LePort School campus in Fountain Valley.
2012		Heritage Montessori School Huntington Beach today.