Alberta Christy: Choosing Own Direction

When Alberta Christy arrived in Santa Ana in 1969, she was newly divorced from a Marine, the mother of two children and facing an uncertain future.

“When I landed here, my furniture was somewhere between here and North Carolina, and I thought to myself, ‘I better start looking for a job.’ ”

Christy, who found work at a bank at El Toro Marine Corps Air Station, thought, “I just divorced a Marine and here I am surrounded by 10,000 of them.”

But for Christy, a strong conservative and military supporter, the job was perfect, she said. And it was the beginning of 20 years of political activism in Orange County.

Today at 45, she is secretary of the Republican Party of Orange County, assistant manager of Sanwa Bank’s corporate offices, and a Ronald Reagan appointee to the Selective Service Board.

“I’ve always had a conservative philosophy, all my life,” she said. “I feel very strong about the defense of our country. I’m pro-military, against taxes and I don’t like government regulating my life, especially being a business person.”

Christy, a native of Long Beach, grew up in a “strong Southern Democratic household,” she said.

“Sometimes my mother would say, ‘I think they switched babies on us in the hospital.’ ”

She became a maverick again as an adult in Cherry Point, N.C., when she became the first-ever black bank teller there.

But it was on the Marine base in El Toro--especially at the end of the Vietnam War--that her local activism began.

“These were young men coming back from Vietnam who felt the country had turned against them,” Christy said. “The chaplain on the base was worried about their mental well-being. It was important that they feel a purpose, feel wanted and needed.”

Through Christy, many of the men became involved with the People’s Clinic in Santa Ana, a now-defunct group similar to Big Brothers, which matched the Marines with children who needed guidance.

For those efforts, Christy won a commendation from the Marine Corps in 1975.

“It was a matter of matching the community’s need and the military’s resources. That’s exactly what happened,” she said.

Christy, who lives in Santa Ana, said she came to Orange County “because it provided a close proximity to the lifestyle I grew up with. When I went to Manual Arts High School in Los Angeles, it was one-third black, one-third white and one-third a mix of Hispanics, Asians and others. There really wasn’t any prejudice there, we got along together and learned to judge people on their own ability. I wanted my children to be able to accept people for who they are, not because of their color or creed.”

Christy also describes herself as an advocate of self-worth and self-esteem. Those qualities make it possible to “pull together with your community to make it better,” she said. “In so doing, everyone benefits.”