Vignette 267 > Vera Schultz

For exactly 100years, the Members of the Marin Board of Supervisors were all male. In November 4,1952 Vera Schultz was elected to represent the Third District that includes Mill Valley.  She was born in Tonopah, Nevada in 1902. She attended the University of Nevada. She and her husband Ray Schultz came to Mill Valley in June 1928. They lived on Ralston Ave. She became active in the Marin League of Women Voters, and was president in 1938.  In 1946 she became the first female member of the Mill Valley City Council.  Her election to the Board of Supervisors was dramatic.  There were seven candidates. Seven votes gave her a win over the runner-up, Stephen Balzan. Recalls and appeals followed, but Schultz was finally certified the winner by 21 votes. She was the first female supervisor in any Northern California county. She was the only college-educated Supervisor on the Marin County Board.  During her two terms she championed a new Marin County Civic Center designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, redevelopment of Marin City and preservation of Richardson Bay. In June 1960, she lost a reelection bid to J. Walter Blair. She died in 1995. Vera Schultz Drive at the Civic center honors her.