The San Diego City Council adjourned its meeting Tuesday in honor of former lawmaker Lucy Killea, who died of cancer last week at the age of 94.
Killea served on the City Council from 1978-82, the Assembly from 1982- 89 and the state Senate from 1989-96.
Councilman Chris Ward called her “a respected leader” and “a model of civility.”
“She promoted the development of the San Diego trolley and the revitalization of downtown that we have today,” Ward said, adding she “was not afraid to stand up for her values, regardless of the pressures that were placed on her.”
As a member of the Assembly, she helped form the bipartisan Women’s Caucus and was an abortion rights advocate, which prompted then-San Diego Roman Catholic Bishop Leo T. Maher to bar her from communion because of her stance.
She also found controversy when she left the Democratic Party to run as an independent for her 1992 Senate reelection campaign.
Long before her political career, she was an Army intelligence officer during World War II, served on the staff of the U.S. delegation to the first United Nations General Assembly in 1946 and later worked for the CIA.
“She always took time to meet with other women and to empower them and encourage them,” said Councilwoman Barbara Bry, who called Killea a role model.
Killea encouraged her to make her run for the council seat she won in November, Bry said.
A memorial service is scheduled for March 9 at 3 p.m. St. Paul’s Episcopal Cathedral, 2728 Sixth Ave., San Diego.
–City News Service