Candidate for
Member, Democratic Party County Central Committee; County of Marin; Supervisorial District 2

I was born in Tokyo, Japan of Presbyterian missionary parents. My father was a professor at a men's Christian college, Meiji Gakuin, and we lived on the campus. When I was ten years old we returned to the U.S. and first lived in New Jersey and then in Pennsylvania. I attended Goucher College outside of Baltimore, Maryland after which we moved to California when my father's job changed. I attended Occidental College in Los Angeles and graduated from there with a B.A. in English.

I returned to the Bay Area after graduation and worked as a secretary at the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce and later at the executive hiring office of Safeway Stores. I met my husband while working there, and after we married I was at home for ten years raising three girls and two boys.

Our marriage broke up and I became a single parent. To support my children, I worked at the Marin County Office of Educatin as secretary in the Marin County's Children's Center and Preschool Programs. I was active in the California School Employee's Association as Secretary and Vice President, and also served on the office negotiating team. I won a suit against the office because of duties I felt that I should not be performing.

While working at the Office of Education I began a Master's Program in Values at the San Francisco Theological Seminary. After retiring, I completed my course work and wrote a thesis on "The Use of Community Resources in the developmental stages of a Single Parent Family." My project was a single parent handbook for single parents in Marin. The handbook has been published three times with updates when necessary. I graduated in 1988.

While I was attending the Seminary I worked for two years for Innovative Housing, a program placing people in shared housing, and after graduating I first volunteered and later worked for Community Action Marin with single plarents.

In the nineties, I joined the National Women's Political Caucus and served as Co-President, State Representative,Legislative Chair, Affirmative Action Chair, Membership Chair, Parliamentarian, and am currently Historian. I was involved in many political campaigns including Barbara Boxer's campaign for Senate, Lynn Woolsey's first campaign for Congress, in local campaigns for Marin County Supervisor and city councils, and in both of Bill Clinton's campaigns.

At this time I was also a member of the Human Rights Commission and later a member of the Marin Mental Health Board for a term. In 1997 I was one of ten women who received the Marin Women's Commission Twenty-fifth Anniversary Women of Wisdom, Passion and Vision Award.

In 2002 I became an alternate on the Marin Democratic Central Committee. I attend a Quaker meeting and am Chair of the Ministry and Oversight Committee.