Nancy Parmelee was elected mayor three times beginning in 1975.
Ryan lely/Sonoma Valley Sun
(Part 2 of a series)
In 1931 Sonoma schoolteacher Zolita Bates acquired the Patton-Nash adobe in the 500 block of First Street East and from her meager salary beautifully restored the building that had originally been purchased in 1848 by her great-grandmother, Nancy Bones Patton, a survivor of the ill-fated Donner Party. Edna Cooper was instrumental in the founding of the Sonoma Valley Historical Society in 1937. The Society later acquired freight cars, which were restored (twice, after they were set afire by an arsonist) to house the historic museum in Depot Park, which is filled with pictures and artifacts from Sonoma’s early days.
In 1948 Harriet Jones joined her husband, Gregory, in purchasing and meticulously restoring by hand the Casita, a century-old adobe house on Spain Street just west of the El Dorado Hotel. Across the street, the historic 1880 Sonoma Hotel (including its restaurant and bar) was refurbished, improved and furnished in period antiques under the direction of Dorene Musilli with the help of her husband, John Musilli, after they bought the building in 1980.
Joan McGrath, public school music teacher and wife of physician A. K. McGrath, after participation in several community activities, was the first woman elected to the City Council (in 1952). After she won re-election in 1956 by a wide margin, the Council elected Mrs. McGrath Mayor. She served for four years and introduced the office of administrator, annexed areas on West Napa Street, and treated the job like an occupation.
McGrath’s election opened the door to subsequent female mayors, beginning with the hard-working Nancy Parmelee, who was chosen Sonoma’s leader three times: 1975, 1979 and 1986. An award-winning quilter, Mrs. Parmelee cracked the so-called glass ceiling permanently as proved when Sonoma elected mayors Jeanne Markson (1984), Valerie Brown (1990), Phyllis Carter (1992 and 1994) and Joanne Sanders (2008).
Marj Eliassen, a former Monterey City Councilwoman famous for her environmental and planning activities there, moved to Sonoma in the 1960s. Eliassen then inaugurated the League for Historic Preservation, which soon became a membership-based advocate of protection and promotion of the historic values of Sonoma. The League established headquarters in the Vasquez House with a storehouse of materials and an annual selection of preservation accomplishments.
Eleanor Berto served as Sonoma City Clerk from the 1960s to the 1990s, holding office longer than any other California elected official. Berto virtually ran the city government (which she would modestly deny), while councilmen and other officials came and went. She was (and is) a treasury of information about Sonoma and the intricacies of its administration.
After Sonoma established the position of “Honorary Alcalde” in 1978, among those chosen in the first ten years were four prominent women, who were all famous for their good works: Jerry Casson, Adele Harrison, Evelyn Berger and Helen Shainsky.
For several decades Casson, an expert social worker, lent her talents to developing the Sonoma Community Center, of which she was president until 1981, a leader of the Sonoma County Council on the Aging, serving holiday meals for those with needs, organizing celebrations and informal community assistance. She was brilliant, tireless and warm-hearted. Among other accomplishments, Harrison founded and directed for many years F.I.S.H (Friends in Sonoma Helping), which provides food and aid to people and families down on their luck. Berger and Shainsky both were involved in many charities, some public and others quietly effective. They set a standard of volunteerism for the Valley that continues to this day. Vintage House honors Casson, and Harrison has a public school named for her.
Helen Fernandez, a perpetually cheery one-time candy store owner, took over management of the Sonoma Chamber of Commerce in the 1970s and by energy, foresight and determination pumped new life into the chamber, making it a major force in Sonoma Valley.
There is much more to the significant role of women in Sonoma’s story. Part Three of this column will explore their key importance in education, arts, literature, business, tourism, agriculture, wineries and standards of conduct in our piece of paradise.
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