Bio in Brief . . .
I was born and raised in Los Angeles, California. Got married, moved to San Francisco,
had four children. Husband transferred to Montgomery County Maryland in 1954. Raised
children, worked in politics, organized my precinct for Adlai Stevenson – anyone remember
him? – joined with other progressive Democrats to elect progressive Democrats in an
otherwise very Republican County. In Montgomery County, I was precinct chairman for a
number of years.
Woke up one day to discover I was a single mom with four kids to raise and had to go to get a real job. Worked on “the Hill” for almost five years and then went to the Bureau of the Census. Census was great – in 1970, managed the San Francisco office for the decennial census, reconciled demands from the many minority groups. Result: one of the only major cities in the country that did not demand a recount.
Back to Census in D.C. to manage a program in industrial statistics – first woman responsible for the program that covered data on manufacture of all the capital formation machinery in the U.S. From there, on to the Consumer Product Safety Commission to manage a program about chronic hazards in consumer products, which included a ban on the use of carcinogenic flame retardant chemical, Tris, in children’s pajamas.
Important to my contributions in federal government has been my ability to achieve consensus among varying viewpoints without compromising principle.
After more than 30 years of government service, I retired to Arizona. I am active in the Pima County Democratic party as a PC and with the committee that recruits and trains PCs. In the community, I volunteer with the schools through the Reading Seed Children's Literacy Program and participate in Quilts for a Cause.