Rose Mofford, first woman to serve as Arizona governor, has died at 94
(a number of videos and remembrances at the link below)
Rose Mofford, first woman to serve as Arizona governor, has died
Karina Bland and Craig Harris, The Republic | azcentral.com 3:16 p.m. MST September 16, 2016
http://bcdownload.gannett.edgesuite.net/azc-mobile/201609/392/29901534001_5127049682001_5127034806001.mp4
Rose Mofford, the scrappy softball player from Globe who would make history by becoming Arizona's first woman secretary of state and governor, has died. She was 94. Mofford, who lived in the same central Phoenix home for 55 years, passed away Thursday morning at Gardiner Home, a Phoenix hospice. She was moved to the hospice after an Aug. 31 fall at home, said Karen Scates, a close friend and longtime political associate. “She was in good spirits yesterday. She went peacefully — that is all we can hope for,” Scates said.
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A lifelong Democrat with friends on both sides of the political aisle, Mofford was anything but vanilla. On Thursday in a statement, President Barack Obama praised Mofford:
"In all, her career in public service spanned more than a half-century. It’s a story of tireless service, steady leadership, and a trailblazing spirit that inspired not only a state where three more women would eventually follow her in office, but an entire country. Rose showed us all what to do when somebody says we’re not good enough because of who we are — don’t believe it."
As secretary of state, Mofford took over the state's top office in 1988 after Gov. Evan Mecham was impeached for obstruction of justice and misuse of funds. She was the embodiment of old Arizona, where Republicans and Democrats could be civil and work together. She ran an efficient office and is credited with bringing stability to the state at a rough time with grace and wit. "When the state desperately needed healing, she stepped in," recalled Athia Hardt, who served as Mofford's press aide when she was suddenly catapulted to the Governor's Office following Mecham's impeachment. She called herself "Mother Mofford," and fulfilled that role both as a stern parent, when needed, and as a caring individual, Hardt said.
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Mofford retired in 1991 after 51 years in state government, but never lost interest in state affairs. "As recently as a few months ago, she was still calling on my cellphone every so often when she saw something in the newspaper she didn't like or about something political," Hardt said.
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http://www.azcentral.com/story/news/politics/arizona/2016/09/15/rose-mofford-arizonas-first-female-governor-has-died/90418304/
Rose Mofford, First Woman to Serve as Arizona’s Governor, Dies at 94
Gov. Rose Mofford of Arizona in April 1988 in her office in Phoenix after being sworn into office. Credit David Sanders/Arizona Daily Star, via Associated Press
PHOENIX (AP) — Rose Mofford, who was the first woman to serve as governor of Arizona and guided the state during a politically turbulent time, died on Thursday at a hospice facility in Phoenix. She was 94. A former spokeswoman to Ms. Mofford, Athia Hardt, confirmed the death.
A Democrat in a historically Republican state, Ms. Mofford was governor from 1988 to 1991. She was the elected secretary of state when she took over for Gov. Evan Mecham, a Republican, who had been impeached and removed from office by the Republican-led Legislature. Arizona does not have a lieutenant governor.
“I don’t think she ever really necessarily wanted the spotlight or wanted to certainly be governor,” said Grant Woods, a former Arizona attorney general, “but she believed in public service and she believed strongly in the state, especially the rural areas.”
Ms. Hardt said that when the state “desperately needed healing,” the plain-spoken Ms. Mofford, recognizable by her signature beehive hairdo, “stepped in” and brought a measure of stability to the state government. “ ‘Mother Mofford,’ she’d call herself,” she said.
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http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/16/us/politics/rose-mofford-dead.html?_r=0
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