About Us

We are all volunteers and all parents of children with disabilities. While our children run the gamut in ages and disabilities, we share one goal: to be part of the solution in educating children with special needs in Marin. Our Executive Committee includes:

Leo Eide

Leo has worked for over 30 years in accounting, the last 20 at Lucas Licensing. Working part-time gives Leo the opportunity to volunteer and help raise awareness for Muscular Dystrophy, Families of Spinal Muscular Atrophy, and Dedication to Special Education. Leo and her husband, Hans, have two wonderful daughters, Erika and Hanna. When Hanna was born in 1996, everything was fine, but at one month her legs went limp. At three months she was diagnosed with Type I Spinal Muscular Atrophy, a recessive genetic disease. The muscles for walking, swallowing, and breathing progressively get weaker, but it does not affect the brain. Since she was 6 months old, Hanna has been trached and on a ventilator, with 24-hour nursing at home. Despite all odds, Hanna attends school in Novato, accompanied by her nurse and an educational aide. Through technology provided by the school district and with much work at the Technology Resource Center, Hanna has become an expert on her communications (AAC) device. She talks with it and can turn on her TV, DVD and CD players as well as connect with a computer. It’s a whole new world of communication for Hanna with email and Facebook. Because of her fragile health, Hanna misses much school, but is connected to the classroom through Skype. She cannot talk but she can communicate! Managing Hanna’s physical care and medical equipment is Leo’s “other” job. The Eide family lives in Novato with their dog Reba and their cat, BJ.

Back to Top

Janet Held

Janet Held attended Emerson College in Boston, majoring in television production. In 1985 she moved to San Francisco and worked as a production manager for various production companies. After the birth of her son, Alexander, in 1991, she joined her husband’s company as the chief financial manager of Archie Held Studio. The company currently has 10 employees. Archie and Janet have 3 sons: Jack (born 1986), Alexander (born 1991), and Evan (born 1994). Alexander has been receiving special education services since age 3 and was diagnosed with autism at the age of 6.

Back to Top

Betty Lituanio, Co-Chair

Betty is a marketing executive with 20 years experience in consumer advertising, public relations, and promotions. Her career includes 5 years as Director of Marketing for the Simplicity Pattern Company in Manhattan and 5 years as Senior Account Executive for Retail Marketing, a Bay Area advertising agency. In 1995 Betty and her husband, Nick, had a daughter, Alessandra. During birth, Alessandra suffered asphyxia that caused brain injury and resulted in her current diagnosis of Cerebral Palsy. Since that time, Betty has devoted much of her time and energy to raising Alessandra and managing her medical, educational, and physical care. In 2001, Betty joined Dedication to Special Education, focusing her efforts on publicity and community awareness issues. She served on the Board of Directors of Support for Families of Children with Disabilities, a San Francisco nonprofit organization, from 1997 through 2002. She also volunteers as a parent mentor for both English- and Spanish-speaking families, offering support and information to other parents who are new to the disabled community. She received an associates degree in Business from New York University and a bachelors degree in Latin American Studies from University of California at Berkeley. A native of Uruguay, she is fluent in Spanish. She resides in San Rafael with husband, Nick, Alessandra (born 1995), and daughter Daniella (born 1998).

Back to Top

Sarah King, Co-Chair

Sarah graduated from UC Berkeley with a BA in English Literature and has over 25 years of fund raising and marketing communications experience, working as a freelance consultant with over 75 nonprofit organizations and communications companies on the local, regional, national, and international levels. Currently she works in partnership with her husband, Bruce King, managing their nonprofit, Ecological Building Network and Green Building Press, a small publishing company the Kings founded in 2004. For DSE, Sarah serves as co-chair of the executive steering committee and administers the Grants to Special Educators program. She started as a volunteer when DSE was founded in 1997. Her son, Tyler, was born in 1992 and has Fragile-X Syndrome. He attends a special day class at College of Marin. She also has a daughter, Lucy, born in 1996 and adopted from India. The Kings live in Lucas Valley with their dog Louis and their six chickens.

Back to Top

Linda Miller

Linda worked in the field of social work for twenty-two years prior to becoming a teacher. Much of her service involved helping people who were without housing, and those recovering from homelessness. During her time in social services, she also worked as a consultant, focusing on research, data collection design and analysis, grant writing and grant reporting, program design, strategic planning, and training. She has bachelor’s degrees in Social Work and Sociology, a master’s degree in Sociology, and a Special Education Teaching Credential. Linda is currently a Special Education teacher in Novato. Linda and her husband, Alex, have two sons, Jack and Davey. Davey, who is charming and incredibly active, was diagnosed with autism at age three. The Miller family lives in Novato with their two dogs, Lucy and Nelly.

Back to Top

Suzi Lee Musgrove

Suzi has been a graphic designer and art director for over 15 years. She is the owner of SLM Creative Design and Associates and served as the Northern California President of the Graphic Artists Guild for two terms. Suzi joined the DSE Executive Board in 2003. When her youngest daughter was born with cataracts and later diagnosed on the autistic spectrum, Suzi became involved with the special education community helping out wherever she could. She has previously served on the Steering Committee for the California Association for Parents of Children with Visual Impairments (CAPVI) and was a member of the Marin County Special Education Advisory Council (SEAC). Suzi lives in Novato with her husband, David and their daughters, Nichole (born 1987), and Julia (born 1998).

Back to Top

Kathleen O’Brien

Kathleen O’Brien has thirteen years experience working in both the corporate and non-profit sectors, including account management for Foote, Cone & Belding, public relations work for Williams-Sonoma and project management/fundraising for Greenpeace, Rainforest Action Network, The Exploratorium, and The San Francisco Bay Book Festival. Since her daughter’s first year in preschool, Kathleen has been an educational advocate and fundraiser, first for two cooperative preschools, and for the past 8 years for the YES Foundation. YES is a collaboration of parents, teachers and administrators dedicated to providing high-quality, engaging arts and educational programs to students of the Ross Valley Public School District, the funding for which would otherwise not exist. Kathleen also serves on the Advisory Committee for the YES Foundation’s annual Theater Festival. Kathleen’s preshool-age son, Oliver, currently attends the Marindale Early Intervention Program for a severe speech delay and other educational challenges. Kathleen and husband, Paul Valerio, Live in San Anselmo with Audrey (born 1997), Oliver (born 2006) and their lovable mutt, Mocha.

Back to Top

Mary Sheft

Mary worked in the financial services industry for over 11 years, having been a Vice President in the Investment Banking Division at Goldman, Sachs & Co. and a Director in Equity Research at Dresdner RCM Global Investors. She received her AB from Princeton University, as did her husband, Mark (go Tigers!). In late 2001, when her oldest son, Alex, was a year old, Mary decided to take what she thought would be a brief hiatus from money management. In 2003, her identical twins experienced a rare complication in utero, causing them to be born prematurely. Also as a result of the complication, her son, Tyler, had a brain hemorrhage. At nine months old he was completely blind, on home oxygen, and deemed unlikely to walk unassisted due to hypotonia. He has made truly inspirational progress since then. Today he is a happy, smart, musical little boy who walks, runs and no longer requires oxygen. Although still legally blind, the amount of his visual recovery has been stunning. He continues to have a speech delay and hypotonia. Mary was a member of the Blind Babies Foundation’s inaugural Kaleidoscope Gala Organizing Committee in 2005 and was Chair of the Sponsorship and Solicitation Committee for the 2006 gala. In memory of Tyler’s twin who passed away at two and a half weeks of age, Mary and Mark started the David Camden Sheft Family Assistance Fund at the California Pacific Medical Center. This fund helps families in need who have children in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. The Sheft family, including Bailey the dog, live in Tiburon.

Back to Top

Beth Silver

Beth has worked in account management for marketing and advertising firms for over 10 years, in both in the strategic and creative planning areas. She has managed projects for Robert Mondavi, SanDisk, Twentieth Century Fox, Guinness Import Company, and several others. She received her BS Degree from the University of Southern California and is an avid Trojan football fan. Beth and her husband, Barry, have two children, Brooks (born in 1999), and Bebe (born in 2003). Their sweet Brooksie suffered a massive stroke at birth, causing cerebral palsy/hemiplegia, speech and language delays, as well as a seizure disorder. Brooks underwent brain surgery in January 2005 to end his daily battle with seizures. Beth is very active in promoting awareness of pediatric strokes via Children’s Hemiplegia and Stroke Association and serves as an Ambassador for the Cleveland Clinic Pediatric Epilepsy Support Group. Beth has co-chaired the Prius Raffle for the past six years and oversees student communications for DSE. The Silver family lives in San Rafael with their doggies Bella and Beau.

Back to Top

Pam Sowerby

Pam is a Certified Public Accountant and a Systems Programmer. For 10 years she operated her own CPA firm and, more recently, has worked as a Systems Programmer, designing and creating database programs. For Dedication to Special Education, she maintains the database in addition to other odd jobs. Pam and her husband, Tim, have 2 daughters, whom they adopted from China. Victoria (born 1998) and Katie (born 1999). Victoria has Cerebral Palsy and attends special education classes in Marin. The Sowerbys live in Mill Valley.

Back to Top

Leigh Shemaria

Born in Liverpool, England (same hospital as Paul McCartney, grandparents lived off Penny Lane!) Leigh grew up in Yorkshire and has an Education degree from Leeds University, specializing in Middle School Arts. After coming to the U.S.A., she worked in private schools in San Francisco and Marin for 15 years before starting her own flourishing redecorating business. In 2002, Leigh and her husband, Mark, adopted their daughter, Ruby Kay Mingyue (“Bright Moon”), from China when she was just one year old. Ruby has Ataxic Cerebral Palsy and needs a one-on-one aide to help her attend regular classes at Dixie School. She uses both a manual wheelchair and a power chair to navigate through her day. Ruby also has a smile that’ll make your knees buckle, and an outlook on life that would make millions, if only we could bottle it! :) Leigh credits her daughter with giving her many blessings, not least of which has been joining the Special Needs community and being privileged to work alongside a group of “the strongest women you’ll ever meet.”

Back to Top