Newport celebrates the life of Marian Bergeson

Friends, family members and admirers gathered Saturday to honor the memory of Marian Bergeson, the first woman to serve in both the California Senate and Assembly.

The pioneering Newport Beach legislator was remembered in a celebration of life that began in the early evening at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on Dover Drive.

Bergeson, who also had served as the state secretary of education and an Orange County supervisor, died in early July after a long period of ill health. She was 90.

The Salt Lake City native, who had lived in her adoptive Newport Beach since the 1950s, became involved in a 1959 effort to get Mariner’s Library built. A political career would follow.

“Marian was a great lady and she’ll be missed, as she was an inspiration to women,” former Mayor Evelyn Hart told the Daily Pilot last month. “My best memories of her were the love she showed back to this community of Newport Beach. … We all knew we could call on Marian when we needed her, even when when she was busy in Sacramento.”

Following her terms in the Legislature, Bergeson served as education secretary under then-Gov. Pete Wilson.

An elementary school in Laguna Niguel now bears Bergeson’s name, as does the aquatics center at Corona del Mar High School.

She was best known, perhaps, for contributions to education. But as a county supervisor, Bergeson helped lead the county out of bankruptcy in the mid-1990s.

She was a Republican, but at the time of her death, members of both parties praised her for boosting the political power of women in California.

“She encouraged women to enter the male-dominated world of politics and to dedicate themselves to public service,” Senate GOP leader Jean Fuller (R-Bakersfield) said in a statement to the Los Angeles Times. “Her influence and passionate dedication stretched for decades and to all parts of California.”

Bergeson is survived by her husband, Garth, and three adult children. A fourth child preceded her in death.