Heather Sterner Reflects on the San Francisco League

As I look back on my years with the League of Women Voters I realize that there was a direct correlation between the hours I spent on projects and the friendships formed with the people I worked with. I got out of League what I put into it.

I first joined League in San Mateo County where I served on the board and worked on studies and action. In 1987 my husband and I moved from Burlingame to San Francisco and one of the first things I did was join the San Francisco League.

I was on the board when Charlene Smith was president, she of the purple hair which overnight changed people’s image of the League of Women Voters.

It was Susan Sutherland who was president when we came up with the idea of a fundraising luncheon, named by Ann Walsh as Women Who Could be President. Out of the many hours spent on the luncheon from 1992 until 1999, fast friendships were formed.

I was honored to represent the League on the Sunshine Ordinance Task Force for four-plus years, a position taken over by Kristin Chiu and now Allison Washburn. Being “inside City Hall” was an eye-opening experience I recommend to all.

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