Esther M. Johnson, 89, first woman in Rotary International Club

LOS ANGELES -- Esther M. Johnson, the first woman admitted to the Rotary International Club after it opened its doors to women in 1986, died Sunday at a Santa Monica convalescent home. She was 89.

For 10 years before she was admitted to Rotary International, a community-service organization with chapters around the world, Mrs. Johnson was executive secretary of the Santa Monica chapter. She also played piano at the club's weekly luncheon meetings while it was still an all-male organization.

She was invited to become a member in November 1986, the year a state appellate court upheld a controversial action by members of the Duarte chapter of the club, which admitted three women to the group in 1977. At the time, Rotary International responded by revoking the Duarte club's charter.

The Supreme Court affirmed Rotary International's integrated status in a 1987 ruling. The decision officially overturned a club policy in place since 1905, the year Rotary International was founded. Early reactions were mixed.

Some long-standing members threatened to quit the club.

Mrs. Johnson remained above the fray. "I was at the club for lunch every day, so it didn't make much difference if they made me a member or not," she said in a 1987 interview. "I think everyone's prepared for it now."

Born in Brookline, Mass., Mrs. Johnson relocated with her family to Denver before World War II. After high school, she became a treasurer for the Denver public school system and met her future husband, Oliver, at church.

They married in 1936 and moved to Santa Monica in 1944.

"My mother was honored to be invited to be a Rotarian, she so admired the work of the club," Sharon Johnson said. For a number of years she was the only woman in the Santa Monica chapter, which had 160 men, the daughter said. Esther Johnson became a sort of den mother and the keeper of the club's historic memory, said Jack Siegal, a past president.