Lucy Killea (born Lucy Gold Lytle; July 31, 1922 – January 18, 2017) was an American politician who served in the

California State Legislature The California State Legislature is a bicameral state legislature consisting of a lower house, the California State Assembly, with 80 members; and an upper house, the California State Senate, with 40 members. Both houses of the Legisla ...

, from 1982 to 1996.

Biography

Lytle was born in

San Antonio ("Cradle of Freedom") , image_map = , mapsize = 220px , map_caption = Interactive map of San Antonio , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = United States , subdivision_type1= U.S. state, State , subdivision_name1 = Texas , s ...

, Texas, and received a bachelor's degree from Incarnate Word College there in 1943. She served as a research analyst in Western Europe for the

Military Intelligence Corps (United States Army) The Military Intelligence Corps is the Military intelligence, intelligence branch of the United States Army. The primary mission of military intelligence in the United States Army is to provide timely, relevant, accurate, and synchronized inte ...

, then in various other capacities for the

United States Department of State The United States Department of State (DOS), or State Department, is an executive department of the U.S. federal government responsible for the country's foreign policy and relations. Equivalent to the ministry of foreign affairs of other n ...

Central Intelligence Agency The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gathering, processing, ...

Economic Cooperation Administration The Economic Cooperation Administration (ECA) was a U.S. government agency set up in 1948 to administer the Marshall Plan. It reported to both the State Department and the Department of Commerce. The agency's first head was Paul G. Hoffman, a fo ...

United States Information Agency The United States Information Agency (USIA), which operated from 1953 to 1999, was a United States agency devoted to "public diplomacy". In 1999, prior to the reorganization of intelligence agencies by President George W. Bush, President Bill C ...

, in several countries. She married John F. Killea in 1946, and left the CIA in 1958 when her first child was born and when her husband was named consul general in

Monterrey Monterrey ( , ) is the capital and largest city of the northeastern state of Nuevo León, Mexico, and the third largest city in Mexico behind Guadalajara and Mexico City. Located at the foothills of the Sierra Madre Oriental, the city is anchor ...

, Mexico, by President Eisenhower. John was subsequently named consul general in

Tijuana Tijuana ( ,"Tijuana"
(US) and < ...

, and Lucy remained interested in U. S.-Mexico relations, helping to found, in San Diego, Fronteras de las Californias and the International Community Foundation, "both of which sought to help people south of the border through grants and charitable giving." She died on January 18, 2017, in San Diego, at the age of 94.

Education

In addition to her undergraduate studies, Lucy Killea received a Master of Arts degree in History from

University of San Diego The University of San Diego (USD) is a private Roman Catholic research university in San Diego, California. Chartered in July 1949 as the independent San Diego College for Women and San Diego University (comprising the College for Men and Schoo ...

in 1966, and a Doctorate in History from

University of California, San Diego The University of California, San Diego (UC San Diego or colloquially, UCSD) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in San Diego, California. Established in 1960 near the pre-existing Scripps Insti ...

, in 1975.

Elections and controversy

Killea was elected to the

San Diego City Council The San Diego City Council is the legislative branch of government for the city of San Diego, California. The city council was first established in San Diego in 1850. The council uses a strong mayor system with a separately elected mayor who acts ...

from 1978 to 1982, then to the

California State Assembly The California State Assembly is the lower house of the California State Legislature, the upper house being the California State Senate. The Assembly convenes, along with the State Senate, at the California State Capitol in Sacramento. The A ...

from its 78th district from 1982 to 1989. She was elected in a

special election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, a bye-election in Ireland, a bypoll in India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-larges ...

in 1989, replacing Larry Stirling as the senator for

California's 39th State Senate district California's 39th State Senate district is one of 40 California California State Senate, State Senate districts. It is currently represented by California Democratic Party, Democrat Toni Atkins of San Diego. District profile The district enc ...

. Controversy surrounded the election as

Leo Thomas Maher Leo Thomas Maher (July 1, 1915 – February 23, 1991) was an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as bishop of the Diocese of Santa Rosa in California (1962–1969) and as bishop of the Diocese of San Diego in California ...

, the Catholic bishop of San Diego, prohibited Killea from receiving communion because she was pro-choice; she was the first politician to be punished in such a way for her political views. The incident brought publicity to her candidacy and gained her the voters' sympathy, winning her the election. Killea was subsequently re-elected in

1992 File:1992 Events Collage V1.png, From left, clockwise: 1992 Los Angeles riots, Riots break out across Los Angeles, California after the Police brutality, police beating of Rodney King; El Al Flight 1862 crashes into a residential apartment buildi ...

, switching from the Democratic Party to Independent. She left office in 1996 due to California term limits.

Honors

Lucy Killea was nominated and inducted into the San Diego County Women's Hall of Fame in 2002 hosted by

Women's Museum of California The Women's Museum of California (WMC) is a nonprofit museum located in San Diego, California and dedicated to women's history. It was first organized under the names the Women's History Reclamation Project and then the Women's History Museum and ...

, Commission on the Status of Women, University of California, San Diego, Women's Center, and

San Diego State University San Diego State University (SDSU) is a public research university in San Diego, California. Founded in 1897 as San Diego Normal School, it is the third-oldest university and southernmost in the 23-member California State University (CSU) system ...

Women's Studies. She was a Senior Fellow of the International Community Foundation, and served on the Board of Advisors of the San Diego-based Center for Ethics in Science and Technology.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Killea, Lucy 1922 births 2017 deaths Politicians from San Antonio University of the Incarnate Word alumni University of San Diego alumni University of California, San Diego alumni San Diego City Council members California Democrats California state senators California Independents Women state legislators in California Catholics from California Members of the California State Assembly Catholics from Texas Women city councillors in California United States Army women civilians 21st-century American women