Hornbuckle, Mary

Metadata

Abstract

An oral history with Mary Hornbuckle, former mayor of Costa Mesa and current vice president of the Coast Community College District (CCCD) Board of Trustees. The interview was conducted for the Women, Politics, and Activism Since Suffrage Oral History Project for California State University, Fullerton’s Center for Oral and Public History. The purpose of this interview was to collect her life history, details of her teaching career, and public servant work on the council and CCCD Board of Trustees. Specifically, this interview details her move from Denver, Indiana to Costa Mesa, California with her husband in the 1960s; recalls her family life and childhood aspirations; her decision to devote thirty-four years of work to early childhood education; her involvement on the Costa Mesa City Council in the 1980s and the non-partisan politics she practiced; describes the polarization of local politics in Orange County; her decision to run for the council in 1984 and her campaign platform which focused on slow growth and major building developments; challenges with immigration while on council; her thoughts of being a woman on the council; her family’s response to her decision to run for council; becoming mayor in 1990; her role in the construction of the Costa Mesa Senior Center; talks about her decision to run for 70th California State Assembly District against Gil Ferguson; the importance of having women in politics; discusses the current state of the United States of America politics; her role as president on the Board of Trustees for the CCCD and her work with student success rates; the importance of children having a head start in early education; her memories of Costa Mesa in the 1960s; discusses feminism and its movement in the 70s and 80s; recalls meeting former prime minister Margaret Thatcher; shares what her work schedule is like and what she would like to pursue next; talks about her domestic and international travels; goes into further detail about her Assembly run; her work and experiences as a pre-school teacher and director at St. Mark Community Preschool; what she would like her legacy to be; closes the interview with the development of Costa Mesa TV as well as being invited as mayor by the Orange County model engineers to Fairview Park for a symbolic railroad event.

Metadata

Abstract

An oral history with Mary Hornbuckle, former mayor of Costa Mesa and current vice president of Coast Community College District (CCCD) Board of Trustees. The interview was conducted for the Women, Politics, and Activism Since Suffrage Oral History Project for California State University, Fullerton’s Center for Oral and Public History. The purpose of this interview was to collect her life history, details of her teaching career, and public servant work on the council and CCCD Board of Trustees. Specifically, this interview details her family life and childhood growing up in Denver, Indiana; she recalls world-related discussions held with her parents such as the Great Depression; shares the impact her mother had on her; gender roles she experienced in the 1950s; discusses the opportunities for women in her hometown; shares how she met her husband and their courtship; goes into detail about her educational background in early childhood education; her early political engagement with local politics such as the homeowners association and League of Women Voters (LWV); her decision to run for Costa Mesa City Council and campaigning with, Mesa Action; her local political ties and campaign platform; her time as mayor and advocating for the Costa Mesa Senior Center; the issue of immigration while on council; thoughts on the differences between female and male leaders; how she was treated during the campaign as well as her experiences being a woman on the council; her decision to run for CCCD Board of Trustees, her work experiences, and the issues of Measure M Bond and Orange Coast College Plan (Vision 20/20 Plan); what she believes it takes to make an effective leader; her vision and goals for the CCCD; her continued involvement in local politics; explains her leadership style; how being a woman affected her work; her family’s response to her campaigning; her children’s involvement with local politics; the differences in challenges women and men face while getting involved with politics; the dilemma of getting young women and young minority women involved with the LWV; briefly discusses her current goals and retirement plans; her thoughts on the 2016 United States Presidential Election and Hillary Clinton; closes the interview with what she is most proud of and shares advice she would give a young woman wanting to get involved in politics.