CATALINA FOOTHILLS, Ariz. (KGUN) — As they walked into Cinderella’s Closet, a small boutique with formal gowns, Jean Popham and Elizabeth Spilotro were thinking of their friend Amy Bohla.
“She was somebody that encouraged everybody she worked with,” Popham said.
Bohla was a teacher who became a board member at the Catalina Foothills School District. Popham, who knew who her for years, said public education was one of Bohla’s passions and something she was an advocate of.
“One of the things that was very important to her was that everyone have access to a great education,” she said.
Bohla was also a president of the Junior League of Tucson from 2008 to 2009. Both her and Popham volunteered together. Popham later became the president the year after, attributing her motivation to step into the role to Bohla.
“She was sort of a mentor to me in my experience in the League and in other volunteer organizations,” she said.
Bohla was also involved with The Silver & Turquoise Board of Hostesses, her sorority Chi Omega, and the Tucson Symphony Orchestra cotillion board.
While working with the League, she also ran the Rummage Sale. The space where they stored the items for the sale later became Cinderella’s Closet.
“Repurposing it into a boutique has been a labor of love,” Spilotro said.
Bohla passed away about a year and a half ago, the League dedicating what you can call a “bippity-boppity boutique” in her honor about two weeks ago.
“There isn’t a criteria for students to be able to get a dress. It’s just if this is where they would like to come shop for their dress and this where they have a need, this is where they can come,” Spilotro explained.
In 2023 the Junior League took over Cinderella’s Closet but it’s been a program for 12 years. People donate dresses, shoes, and accessories at Sparkle Cleaners or at the League’s headquarters.
They go to female students from all across Pima County. So far the League said they’ve given away over three thousand dresses.
“A beautiful boutique where young ladies can come and shop and find their dream dress,” Spilotro described it.
The League also works with organizations like Candlelighters Childhood Cancer Foundation of Southern Arizona who hosts a prom for kids with cancer.
“It’s just such a delight to see those girls come and see all the dresses. It was like a prom dress wonderland,” Beverley Tidwell, their CEO, said.
Anyone looking for a dress can make an appointment with the League.
“This allows access to opportunity and I think she would be happy with that,” Popham said.
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Andrew Christiansen is a reporter for KGUN 9. Before joining the team, Andrew reported in Corpus Christi, Texas for KRIS6 News, Action 10 News and guest reported in Spanish for Telemundo Corpus Christi. Share your story ideas with Andrew by emailing andrew.christiansen@kgun9.com or by connecting on Facebook, or Twitter.
