Does the name Rose Ann Vuich ring a bell? Well, it should. Today on KVPR’s Central Valley Roots, the story of the Valley woman who broke the glass ceiling of the California State Senate.
The year was 1976, in Sacramento, the state Senate was male, pale and stale. Enter a 50 year-old woman from Dinuba, who shook things up in a big way. Rose Ann Vuich was born in the Tulare County town of Cutler, the daughter of Serbian-American farmers. She worked as a tax accountant and eventually ran her family’s citrus, olive and fruit growing operation. She began a career of public service by winning election to the Alta Hospital District governing board. In 1976 she became the first woman ever elected to the California State Senate.
Vuich was a moderate Democrat, who was unafraid of bucking party leadership. She also developed a reputation for attention to detail and to ethics. When a FBI corruption probe floated a Senate bill to illegally benefit a fake company, Vuich and her staffers wanted no part in it. And she wasn’t afraid to call out her colleagues. After she was elected, she kept a bell on her desk and would ring it every time someone said “gentlemen of the Senate.”
Vuich served four terms in the Senate, before retiring in 1992 due to health issues. She died in 2001. Today the freeway 41 and 180 interchange in Fresno is named for her, as well as a hearing room in Sacramento and a park in her hometown of Dinuba.
