Mary E. Whitney

Mary E. Whitney, 80, an icon in the field of local history, died March 5, 2013, at Hemet Valley Medical Center of complications following cancer surgery. She was born June 15, l932, in Kansas City Mo. Her family moved to California in l944 and she graduated from Anaheim HS. She held a BA from UC Santa Barbara, an MA from CalState U, Long Beach, and an EdD from Columbia Univ.

She was Dean of Women at the Univ. of Virginia 1967-70. Her monograph on the struggle for women to gain admission as regular students was instrumental in overturning the university's anti-coeducational policy. But it also led to her resignation. Other academic appointments were at Amerikan Kiz Koleli, Ankara Turkey; and Cal State U. San Francisco. She was a Financial Aids Officer at UC Santa Barbara.

Mary's mother and step-father, Alma and Earl Hudson, moved to Hemet in 1957. Mary followed in the 70s to care for her parents, injured in a serious automobile accident. When she went to work for Lake Hemet MWD in 1979, and was assigned to organize the Lake Hemet Water Co. archive, she discovered her life-long passion for local history. Her first book, Fortune Favors the Brave (1982), a history of the Lake Hemet Water Co. was followed by nine others, all but one written after her retirement in 1997. She became the scholarly authority on the Hemet area.

Other titles were: Bring Me a Windmill (l985); Valley River and Mountain (l999); Whittier Fuller & Co. (2000); Vignettes of the Valley (2003) Pieces of the Past (2006; The Brudins and Hemet (2007); Hemet (2008) with Gordon Sisk and Bob Norman; Yesteryears, (2010); The Mayberry Family (2012).

Mary was past president of the Hemet Library Board of Trustees. She was master docent at the Hemet Museum, which published several of her books. She served on the finance committee of Solera Diamond Valley Community.

She is survived by her niece, Renee Glaze, great-niece Taylor Glaze, nephew Dillon Glaze, all of Victorville; great-niece Alanna Fairfield of Phoenix and several cousins. A gathering of remembrance will be held Saturday March 23, 2013, at 10 a.m. at the Hemet Museum, Santa Fe Depot, State and Florida. Memorial donations to HHF (for the Hemet Museum) P.O. Box 334, Hemet 92546.