Marian Bergeson | |
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Member of the California Senate from the 37th (and later 35th) district |
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In office December 3, 1984 – January 3, 1995 |
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Preceded by | Paul B. Carpenter |
Succeeded by | Ross Johnson |
Member of the California State Assembly from the 74th (and later 70th) district |
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In office December 4, 1978 – November 30, 1984 |
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Preceded by | Ronald Cordova |
Succeeded by | Gil Ferguson |
Personal details | |
Born |
Salt Lake City, Utah |
August 31, 1925
Died | July 6, 2016 Newport Beach, California |
(aged 90)
Political party | Republican |
Spouse(s) | Garth Bergeson |
Children | Nancy, Garth Jr., Julie, James |
Religion | Christian (Mormon) |
Marian C. Bergeson (August 31, 1925 – July 6, 2016) was an American Republican politician from California. The first woman ever to serve in both the California State Assembly and California State Senate, she was a member of the California State Legislature from 1978 to 1995, a member of the Orange County Board of Supervisors from 1995 to 1996, and California State Secretary of Education from 1996 to 1999. In 1986, Marian Bergeson Elementary School in Laguna Niguel was named after her.
Born in Salt Lake City, Utah, Bergeson earned a Bachelor of Arts in Elementary Education from Brigham Young University. A resident of Newport Beach, California, Bergeson and her husband, Garth, have four children (Nancy, Garth Jr., Julie, and James) and eleven grandchildren. Her daughter Nancy was an attorney in Portland, Oregon, before her murder in 2009.
Elected to the Newport-Mesa Unified School District Board of Education in 1964, she was reelected to the board in 1968, 1972, and 1976. In 1978, Bergeson won 74% of the vote to be elected as California State Assemblywoman for the 74th Assembly District. In 1980, she won 74% of the vote in a three-way race to be re-elected to her seat. In 1982, she again won 74% of the vote for re-election after her district was renumbered as the 70th Assembly District after the 1980s redistricting.