Op-ed: Roma Dawson was a force of nature - San Jose Spotlight

""She was such a force of nature in her enthusiasm for making our city, county and the whole Bay Area a better place." One of many comments shared about Roma Dawson, a dynamic activist who succumbed to cancer last December. Many knew Roma as a longtime dedicated League of Women Voters and community member for San Jose and the Bay Area."

"In 1982, Roma was in the second class of the Santa Clara County Coro Women's Leadership Class, a national organization for leadership training in public affairs. It was a time of very few women in public affairs, except for San Jose and Santa Clara County - the Feminist Capital of the World. Coro Fellows were trained in multiple arenas for service in public life."

"The Coro experience launched Roma's career in a number of political, governmental and community organizations over the next 40 years. Her knowledge of local government and community affairs was vast and her network of people and affiliations endless. Roma earned a bachelor's degree in psychology from UC Berkeley in 1972 and was unstoppable from there. She taught GED, high school equivalency classes to U.S. Army soldiers in Wackernheim, Germany for about a year."

"She moved into the political scene, participating in the core staff of Tom McEnery's first campaign for San Jose mayor. Roma was also part of core staff for Zoe Lofgren's campaign for the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors. While on former Mayor McEnery's staff from 1983-89, she drove the founding of the first San Jose America Festival - a Fourth of July celebration in Discovery Meadow."

Roma Dawson served as a longtime League of Women Voters member and community leader in San Jose and the Bay Area, with a focus on housing and public programs including the Metropolitan Transportation Commission. She held the role of director of public policy for San Jose. In 1982 she joined the Santa Clara County Coro Women's Leadership Class, receiving training in research, interviews, recommendations, public speaking, and confidence-building for public life. The Coro experience launched a forty-year career across political, governmental, and community organizations, creating vast knowledge of local government and an extensive network. She earned a psychology degree from UC Berkeley in 1972, taught GED classes to U.S. Army soldiers in Germany, worked on local political campaigns, helped found the San Jose America Festival, and succumbed to cancer last December.

Read at San Jose Spotlight