Venezia: Ever the class act, I’m going to miss my ‘Maid Marian’

It was early morning when the phone rang July 6.

Normally I wouldn’t answer at that hour, but I saw it was Evelyn Hart calling.

“I wanted you to hear it from me, not anyone else. Marian passed away this morning,” Hart told me.

She was talking about Marian Bergeson.

It was a call I’d been dreading, but knew it would come one day soon. I just didn’t expect it that day.

Last March, Bergeson spoke candidly in my column about her battle with pancreatic cancer. I was honored she trusted me to tell her story, but was sad to break the news publicly.

It was a tough interview. We both knew eventually she’d lose the fight, but she wouldn’t let me go there.

She joked about her situation and shared her plans for skydiving on her 90th birthday, which she fulfilled last year.

The column celebrated her accomplishments, not the disease.

She wrote me afterward saying she was delighted with it, and noted the fact that folks weren’t reacting to her news in a morbid way — which is exactly what she wanted to avoid.

But the past few days I’ve been having trouble wrapping my head around the fact that Bergeson is gone.

Newport Beach City Manager Dave Kiff, who worked for Bergeson early in his career and remained a lifelong friend, summed it up best.

“I am going to miss her a whole bunch,” he said. “I never really thought this day would come.”

But it has, and Bergeson leaves an amazing legacy of love and a life well-lived.

It’s safe to say she squeezed every ounce out of her 90 years. Bergeson was a mentor to many.

You couldn’t help but be inspired by her illustrious career in politics as a school board member, assemblywoman, the first woman in the state Senate, an Orange County supervisor and secretary of education under Gov. Pete Wilson.

She certainly was a trailblazer and, as she pointed out to me several times, she even had her own Wikipedia page.

Bergeson was the epitome of style and grace.

She was whisper of a woman with delicate features. Her hair was always perfectly coiffed and she was stylishly dressed for every occasion.

“Marian loved going out, no matter how tired she was. She just couldn’t miss a party. She wore me out,” joked longtime friend and bridge partner Sharyn Buffa.

I’d run into Bergeson at functions and often wondered if she ever ran out to the store late at night, messy hair, no makeup, wearing a coat over her coffee-stained pajamas to get milk for the next morning.

Probably not.

Bergeson and I couldn’t have been more different, yet Maid Marian, as I dubbed her, was a fan of mine going back to my antics with John Crean on our comedy cooking show “At Home on the Range.”

And I was a fan of hers and the fact that she was, at times, “appropriately inappropriate.”

She’d weigh in with strong opinions and had an amazing moral compass — something quite rare in today’s political breed, which is why I valued her opinions.

She was more than a political figure quoted in my columns. Bergeson challenged me to think out of the box and look at history’s lessons in relationship to today’s local political arena.

We’d have these in-depth phone conversations on politics, then she’d switch gears and complain I was writing too much about politics and not enough about Stasha the Wonder Dog, my little rescue.

I loved the fact she was a crazy dog person like me.

When Bergeson would email thoughts she’d always sign off “Best to Stasha’s family.”

She once told me life was all about relationships. It was through building relationships that she was able to cross political aisles and get things done.

In her personal life, once she forged a strong bond with someone, they were friends for life.

Bergeson lived a life to be admired as a wife to her husband Garth, and as a mother, grandmother and friend to many.

And there might be a few things about Bergeson you didn’t know, according to Buffa.

She liked to eat dessert first. Her favorite meal was In-N-Out Burger. Her driving abilities were questionable.

“Marian thought she was a good driver, but she was a terrible driver,” Buffa joked. “If you rode with her once, you wouldn’t do it again.”

Buffa lovingly acted as her unofficial chauffeur on occasions.

Bergeson will be missed by many, including me. Though when I first met her I didn’t want to like her — and that whole Doris Day vibe she had going on —she managed to burrow into my heart with her warmth, humor and wisdom.

I’m grateful she did and honored to have known her.

Until we meet again, my friend.

BARBARA VENEZIA lives in Newport Beach. She can be reached at bvontv1@gmail.com.