Reflections on Elections

Meet Helen Rudee, who was elected to the Santa Rosa City Schools board in 1965, and named its first female president in 1973.  She then became the first woman elected to the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors in 1976, where she served until her retirement in 1989.

Asked why she decided to run for public office, Helen said she felt they "needed a woman's perspective" on the Board of Supervisors when it came to issues such as development, the environment, and health issues, and as a nurse she was very sensitive to people and their needs.  Her husband, Dr. Bill Rudee, was her biggest supporter!

While serving on the Board of Supervisors, one of Helen's proudest accomplishments was when she appointed a task force to study hunger in the county.  The task force was astonished to discover how many hungry families lived in Sonoma County.  Between cars, insurance, and child care, many of these families found themselves with limited funds by the end of the month.  The task force  became so interested in the problem that by the time they presented their final report they decided to open a free food pantry on Petaluma Hill Road, which became the  Redwood Empire Food Bank in 1987.  According to its website, the Food Bank now serves 78,000 hungry people each month.

Helen was also very involved in developing the county's first General Plan in 1978.  She found this to be her most challenging project, as they were tasked with rezoning the entire county outside city limits. The General Plan defines where new development will go, and what areas are off limits for development.  She was also one of two supervisors assigned to research the building of a new jail.

When asked to share advice for anyone running for public office today, Helen was quick to offer the following:

·         You must take the 'hits' along with the praise

·         Be willing and able to listen to both sides of an argument

·         You must like people

·         Be prepared to make hard decisions that affect other people

·         Know HOW to make decisions (you can't be personal about it, or take it personally)

·         Avoid personal pledges; only a pledge to uphold the constitution

·         Know yourself and maintain your principles of integrity and honesty

·         Don't take a 'party position' as a supervisor

What brought Helen to this "political" juncture in her life?  She was born in 1918 and raised in North Dakota, the youngest of 7 children.   After attending a small country school, Helen lived in a boarding house in the town of Anamoose during high school because it was too far to travel daily from home.  Her father was a farmer, and the stress of living in North Dakota during the Dust Bowl years was "tremendous."  Helen still vividly remembers seeing the black cloud of dust on the horizon, hoping for rain, and how it would blow so hard for 2-4 days that they would have to wear masks.  Yet, the family was still able to preserve enough grain to feed their animals and replant crops. She fondly remembers her family's musical leaning and how they enjoyed singing on those long winter nights.  Helen played both piano and violin, and was in both the high school orchestra and city bands. Reflecting on challenging times, Helen believes, "If you have a personality that finds life interesting, you will find good times along with the hard times."

Growing up during the Great Depression, Helen couldn't afford to attend the University of North Dakota, but her grandmother lived in San Francisco and California offered something unique: a  junior college system, so she moved west in 1935, attended a community college, and went on to attend the Stanford School of Nursing where she met and married her first husband, Dr. Ford Shepherd, a radiologist.  During WWII, he served in that capacity in Virginia and Maryland, and the family returned to California after the war.

Helen's husband died when their youngest of four children was only 4, and she later married another Stanford MD, Dr. Bill Rudee of Santa Rosa.  According to her children, Helen became a "professional do-gooder," actively involved in the community before she stepped up for public office, and continues to volunteer her time and expertise to this day for a number of organizations.  Her passion for learning and care for others have clearly helped keep Helen vital into her 90s.

Offering advice to today's youth, Helen encourages them to face new challenges and always learn new things, "which will open you to all sorts of opportunities."  She concurs with the saying, "the more you learn, the more you realize how little you know."  I hope future political candidates also keep that bit of humility in mind!