Friends and admirers laud Woman of the Year Anne Johnson

Anne Johnson has seen a lot in her 82 years, but what stands out is a day in October 1991 when she turned on the television to watch the U.S. Senate confirmation hearings of Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas, who was being accused of sexual harassment by law professor Anita Hill.

The women’s rights advocate considered it a “modern-day witch trial,” and it led her and other women in Laguna Beach to eventually reach out to Hill, who by then had taken a leave from her teaching post at the University of Oklahoma and moved to the seaside community to write.

Hill was declining requests for interviews by news organizations, the Los Angeles Times wrote at the time. “I don’t have anything to talk about,” she told the paper.

But apparently she did have something to talk about with Johnson and her group.

Johnson shared the story July 22 with supporters who had gathered to honor the planning commissioner as the Woman’s Club of Laguna Beach’s Woman of the Year.

Friends and family offered a steady stream of good-natured jokes mingled with stories of dedication and selflessness. City dignitaries and past winners also testified to the contributions and character of Johnson, a former English teacher who has left an imprint on Laguna since arriving with husband Marv 28 years ago.

“I’ve never seen anyone with more energy in my life,” former Laguna Beach Mayor Elizabeth Pearson said, recalling a time when she thought she had broken her foot and Johnson drove her to the hospital. “I consider her one of my best friends.”

“Get her on painkillers,” Pearson said, recounting Johnson’s words while at the hospital, which elicited laughs from the crowd gathered at the Woman’s Club on St. Ann’s Drive. “If you ever get hurt and need to go to the hospital, go with her.”

Johnson is in her 16th year on the Planning Commission. She is the commission’s representative on the city’s senior housing task force, charged with keeping as many of Laguna’s seniors in their homes as possible.

Eight years ago, Johnson initiated the city’s Open for Business workshops, designed to give entrepreneurs a forum to ask questions about operating in Laguna.

“I’m overwhelmed,” Johnson told the gathered crowd. “Each one of you has a special place in my life.”

Johnson, who was raised in Newton, Mass., moved to Laguna from Clairmont in 1988 with her husband of 58 years. Johnson was teaching literature and composition at Citrus College in Glendora when she was diagnosed with lung cancer. She “thought [Laguna] would be the best place to live out what little time she had left,” according to a pamphlet prepared for the ceremony.

But then a surprising thing happened. Monthly checkups revealed the cancer going further and further into remission. Doctors attributed the remission to a “good immune system,” Johnson said in a follow-up interview.

“I thought, ‘Well, if I’m going to be around, I should get involved in the community.’” Johnson said.

In addition to serving on city committees, Johnson joined organizations and causes. In 1995 she agreed to lead programming as vice president of the Woman’s Club, shifting emphasis from fashion shows to more intellectual offerings.

Two months into her stint, the club’s president died and Johnson finished out that term and was eventually elected to two more terms.

A pivotal moment for Johnson came that day in October 1991, she said in her speech, referring to the Thomas hearings.

“I saw a modern-day witch trial with one of my political heroes’ fall from grace,” Johnson said, alluding to Vice President Joe Biden, who at the time was chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, which was presiding over the hearings.

Biden was widely criticized by liberal legal advocates and women’s groups as having mismanaged the allegations of sexual harassment made by Hill against Thomas, her former employer at the Department of Education and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, at those hearings, The New York Times reported in 2008.

“I have a bad temper, though it’s getting better,” Johnson said. “That is as angry as I had been in my life.”

The televised hearings stirred memories of unfair treatment for Johnson, whose career included middle and high school English teaching jobs in Massachusetts. “Don’t you realize you’re taking away a job that is intended for a man?” Johnson recalled a male colleague’s words.

Moved by the proceedings in 1991, Johnson and other women wanted to hear Hill’s story. They learned that Hill was staying in a house in north Laguna, so Johnson dropped off an invitation, hoping for a response but not holding her breath.

Weeks passed. Then Johnson received a call from Hill.

“Will there be any press?” Johnson recalled Hill’s question. Johnson assured her the meeting would not be public and coffee would be involved.

About eight women, including representatives from Laguna Greenbelt Inc., met Hill at a house on Wilson Street, Johnson said. Laguna Greenbelt is a grassroots organization dedicated to protecting wildlife habitat.

“The sunlight came in ... it was one of the best mornings,” Johnson said.

Johnson said she couldn’t remember all the specifics of the conversation except that “after about three-quarters of an hour, [Hill] crossed her hands and said, “What are all you liberals doing in coastal Orange County?”

“She was very polite,” Johnson said.

No matter which side of the political spectrum one falls, Johnson will listen, Mayor Pro Tem Toni Iseman said.

“I say what I believe, she says what she believes, we disagree, then talk about it,” Iseman said, referring to frequent phone calls with Johnson. Iseman said Johnson is a “ferocious friend who is loyal and dedicated.”

Johnson is also a loving grandmother and maintains her penchant for good writing, said granddaughter Jana Heyman, 26. Heyman, who graduated from Pitzer College in Claremont, said Johnson would drive to meet her to edit academic papers.

“I’ve seen how to be a woman because of her, how to live with integrity,” said Heyman, recently hired at Citrus College to teach English composition and literature. “She’ll always be my hero.”