Mary Van Stevens

Mary Van Stevens
File:Mary Van Stevens 04.png
Mayor of Heppner
In office 3 January 1955 – 3 May 1956
Preceded by	L. D. Tibbles
Succeeded by	W. C. Rosewall

Mary Van Stevens was an American politician, civic leader, and entrepreneur from Heppner, Oregon. She was elected and served as Heppner's first female mayor in 1954 and assumed office on 3 January 1955. She resigned from her position in May 1956 to move to The Dalles, Oregon and assume ownership and management of a flower shop.

Professional career

Stevens served Heppner in various professional and civi leadership roles. She was well-known in Heppner as a florist and owned her own business, Mary Van’s Flowers, with locations in Heppner and Hermiston. She donated her floral skills and knowledge to various clubs and contests, including the annual Garden Club Show. She was a member of various city and county business, social, and governmental committees and could be found leading discussions and meetings for various groups and events throughout the year. She was a member and leader of the Heppner Chamber of Commerce, the Soroptimist Club, the All Saints Episcopal Church, and the Morrow County Tuberculosis and Health Association, among others. For the latter organization, she helped spearhead efforts in 1949 to get all residents in Morrow County screened for tuberculosis.

Mayoral tenure

Image provided by: Morrow County Museum; Heppner, OR and the University of Oregon Libraries. Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial 3.0.

Stevens filed her candidacy for mayor of Heppner in October 1954. She was the first woman in Heppner's history to ever do so and the Heppner Gazette-Times ran a front-page story on her candidacy. She was the sole aspirant for the position and ran unopposed. She won her election and assumed office of the mayor of Heppner on 3 January 1955. Stevens told the city council and those gathered at her swearing in that she would do "everything in her power to make Heppner the best place in the world in which to live." She also added that she was not, "going to be pushed around will temper justice with mercy.”

She continued that she would be "fussy about housekeeping in Heppner and asked for the [city] council to work together as a team, and for better cooperation among the council, the county government, and the chamber of commerce to map a plan which would be beneficial to the county as a whole." She intimated during her acceptance speech that among her first efforts would include a plan to number all the houses in Heppner, name all the streets with the help of a citizens committee, work out a new city charter that would be more up-to-date than the 1918 city charter, and combine the city recorder and city water clerk part-times positions into one, full-time position so "the city would benefit from a more efficient operation of its business."

She began an editorial and news column in the local Heppner Gazette-Times newspaper under the heading “Mayor Mary Says—“ and was quoted as ending her first column reminding the citizens [that] “we want gripes with facts and plans, not just words like ‘ifs’ and ‘ands’.” She was eager to enforce a city ordinance on dogs and was quoted as saying, “If you love your dogs almost as much as your children, why do you let them play in the street?” While mayor, she continued her entrepreneurial efforts. In March 1955, she announced she would open a new women’s ready-to-wear shop called Mary Van’s Dress Shop.

She resigned from post in May 1956 and relocated to The Dalles to assume ownership and management of a different flower shop. W. C. Rosewall succeeded her.

== References ==

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