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April 18, 2001
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April 18, 2001 | ||||||||
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If it was up to me On August 14, 2001, which is a Tuesday, there'd be a gathering at the Vista Point on Sharp Park Road which was dedicated to Grace McCarthy some time ago. If it was up to me, the Mayor, the rest of the Council, and many of the other citizens who liked and respected Mrs. McCarthy would be there to rededicate the spot to her memory. If it was up to me, a plaque would be unveiled, so that all who stopped to admire that portion of Scenic Pacifica visible from the Vista Point would be able to read the words with which her city honored her. If it was up to me, the Plaque would read: "This Vista Point is respectfully rededicated this day, August 14, 2001, her 93rd birthday, to the memory of the First Lady of Pacifica, Grace Lockhart McCarthy, 1908-2000.
Mayor She gave generously of her skills, talents and energy for the benefit of her fellow citizens. Every city needs a Grace McCarthy. Pacifica had the original in our midst for 63 years." All the above is true. It tells of a full and giving life of service, yet there was a whole other person who was also Grace McCarthy. Grace McCarthy was a leader in friendly interchange between peoples, and a good friend to the heads of foreign governments, including Jordi Pujol, who came to Pacifica for the unveiling when the statue of Portol‡ was presented to the state of California by the region of Catalonia. From time to time, Pujol has been the key to the very stability of the government of Spain. There was the Grace McCarthy who was a linchpin of the sister city committee, linking Pacifica, where he discovered San Francisco Bay, with the home city of Governor Gaspar de Portol‡, Balaguer, Catalonia in northeast Spain. She was a Sanchez Adobe docent. She was honored for her public service by the Koshland Prize of $10,000, and chose in turn to honor the Pacifica Historical Society with this gift. For many years, she was an important part of the Portol‡ Expedition Foundation, another way of honoring the descubridor who led the first Europeans who set foot in what is now Pacifica. She never gave up. I was with her one particular Saturday night at the fog fest, the two of us volunteering at the information booth. As she was returning to her car at six p.m. she was knocked down by a drunken woman running backwards down the street. Her hip was broken. She called from the hospital at nine. No self pity. No complaints about pain. Just concerned the information booth be staffed Sunday. In the years after that event, she slowed almost to a crawl. It was hard for her to maneuver, and she had to use a walker, yet she rarely missed a meeting. She got slower and slower, and sometimes it was painful to watch her painful progress, but she never allowed herself to stop. She was almost always there, whether it was the Rotary Club (She was an Honorary member) or the Pacifica Historical Society Board, or church on Sunday. Do you wonder I admired that indomitable spirit? E-mail Paul Azevedo at thereactor@earthlink.net or visit his website, http://home.earthlink.net/~thereactor/ |
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