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  The stomping ground of Leveque’s childhood and pre-college days was Canoga Park, where she grew up a mere mile away from her now husband, David. Both went to California State University, Northridge, but Becky jokes that she is “still a senior” because her first son’s arrival turned her attentions away from studying. Two more sons followed and Leveque gladly accepted the role of little league mom.

     “I really think the Northridge Little League brought the whole community together,” said Leveque, noting her husband’s 20-year involvement with the team. “Everything I did in the community started with the people I met at those little league games.”

    A knack for getting to know her neighbors coupled with a desire to keep her community safe drove Leveque to become one of the founders of the Porter Ranch Neighborhood Watch, which was given the apt title “Operation PROTECT” (Porter Ranch Organized To Eliminate Crime Together). Leveque first became concerned with safety when her home was broken into in the early 1990s, while the family was away on vacation. The burglars stole her son’s baseball card collection, a prized possession valued at $3,000. 

“I was mad and I wanted to do something, but I didn’t know what,” Leveque said.

       A year later, two men tried to break down Leveque’s front door, while her 14-year-old son was home alone. When the police took more than an hour to respond to her son’s 9-1-1 call, Leveque was ready to act.

“Nobody messes with my kids,” Leveque said. “I went to the police and they said there were not enough police cars in the area…we, the neighbors, organized a community meeting to talk about crime. With four days notice, 400 of the 800 families living here showed up to that meeting.”

      Thus, the Porter Ranch Neighborhood Watch was born and within one month of working with the police department, crime was reduced in the area by 82 percent, according to Leveque. On the heels of the neighborhood watch came the creation of other offshoot safety and police support groups such as Supporters of Law Enforcement In Devonshire (SOLID) and the Devonshire Volunteer Surveillance Team (VST). SOLID, founded in 1993 by Leveque and Los Angeles City Councilmember Greig Smith, has raised more than $200,000 to date for equipment not supplied by the city of Los Angeles at the Devonshire Area LAPD.

      With community safety in mind, Leveque not only became a neighborhood watch organizer, but she also took on the role of Police Community Representative and spent many hours volunteering at the Devonshire Area station. She helped computerize the station and contributed to the building of an on-site trailer that created more space.

    “Even now I get notices from police about crimes and I notify my neighbors right away,” Leveque said.

Though public safety is Leveque’s passion, education is likewise high on her list of priorities. As the immediate past president of the Porter Ranch Neighborhood Council, Leveque strongly supports plans for a new k-8 span school in Porter Ranch, which is expected to be built by 2012. She feels that the school will relieve the overcrowded situation at Castle Bay Lane Elementary School, while providing a middle school component for the children in Porter Ranch.

     “It’s going to be nice to have the school,” Leveque said. “It will have a full-sized gym with bleachers and basketball courts…when my kids were growing up all they had was Northridge park…it is really exciting to see this school come to be.”

     Though no longer young children, Becky’s three sons still show an affinity for baseball. Tim, her 27-year-old, is a pitching analyst and pitching coach for the St. Louis cardinals, while Michael, 26, plays baseball in an adult league, and Chris, 33, teaches at Long Beach Woodland High School, where he also fills the role of baseball coach. Her three grandsons, Darien, 8; Andrew, 4; and Matthew, 1 all show signs of baseball fandom. Though she spends much time with her growing family, Leveque also works as an office administrator for  an endodontist, James Beller DDS. This year marks her 25^th anniversary on the job.

Laveque’s staying power and sense of commitment have made her a key member of the Porter Ranch Community. She has lived in Porter Ranch for nearly 30 years, remained married for more than thirty years, and stayed in the same job for more than two decades. It’s nice to know that a neighbor like that Becky Leveque will be around for quite a while. 

     “We plan on retiring here and traveling to see a lot of baseball games with our kids,” Leveque said.