Maxine Singer was a noted Yuba County Chief Probation Officer for whom Camp Singer was named. She served as chief probation officer for Yuba County for 22 years. Singer was a rare sight – a brassy woman in a man’s world, she initiated programs that have been replicated throughout the state, like having probation officers at schools and putting rehabilitation above simple punishment. She made sure all probation employees were impeccably well-trained, prepared professionals. Several people who were in high positions in Yuba-Sutter trained under Singer, including the then, Yuba County Superior Court Judge James Curry.  She was appointed by Gov. Edmund Brown Jr. to the state Board of Corrections in April 1977.

She left a lasting impression, she was known to fellow probation officer for Yuba County as a taskmaster. "She was really ahead of her time as far as the thinking for probation and rehabilitation goes. And it was a tough area for a woman. You had to be tough to be in corrections back then. You probably would not meet anybody sharper than her - she was extremely bright”, noted by fellow chief probation officer Steve Roper.

Singer resigned in 1985 to retire, after battling various forms of cancer for several years and suffering the effects of childhood polio.

The Bi-County Juvenile Hall in Marysville, known commonly in Yuba County as “Camp Singer", was named the Maxine Singer Youth Guidance Center in 1997 in her honor. She was committed to the diagnosis, treatment and rehabilitation of youthful offenders. To designate the facility to her honor would be a fitting tribute to her inspiration and contribution to the community and to the profession of probation services.

Singer was born Maxine Thompson on December 28, 1924, in Chickasha, Oklahoma. She was a Marysville resident for 45 years. Singer was a member of St. Joseph’s Catholic Church in Marysville. She belonged to the Catholic Ladies’ Relief Society; the Catholic Daughters of the Americas Court, Marysville; the California Chief Probation Officers’ Association: and was a life member of the California Probation, Parole and Correction Association, for which she had served as state president. Singer, died Sunday, September 11, 2005 in her Marysville home at the age of 80.

(ref. Mann, Kymm “Noted probation chief Maxine Singer dies” Appeal Democrat, Marysville, Ca. 13 September 2005: Pages C1, C2)