Rose Perica Mofford, former Arizona governor who led the state through a tumultuous political period, says whatever successes she has enjoyed stem from a lifetime of following the three “Rs.”

“Any success I’ve had comes from my roots, my religion and my Rolodex,” she says.

Her roots go back to the mining town of Globe in Gila County where she was born on June 10, 1922. Mrs. Mofford’s parents, John and Frances Perica, were hard-working immigrants from Austria. Mrs. Mofford, who survives her three sisters and two brothers, says her parents and a strict upbringing gave her a strong sense of what is right and influenced her involvement in politics.

“My parents became naturalized citizens and voting was the most important thing in their lives,” Mrs. Mofford says. “They got you up early on Election Day and if you were old enough to vote, you couldn’t go anywhere until you voted.”

After 50 years of public service, she often is recognized. “In a restaurant recently someone came up to me and asked, ‘Are you still Rose Mofford?’”

Heritage Award

Mrs. Mofford will be honored at the Arizona Chamber of Commerce 2004 Arizona Heritage Award Dinner Nov. 16 at Scottsdale’s Camelback Inn.

The award is presented each year by the Chamber to recognize the accomplishments of distinguished Arizonans. Others honored in previous years include the late Congressman Bob Stump, broadcaster and former major league baseball player Joe Garagiola, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor and the late Sen. Barry Goldwater.

Religion

Religion “plays an important part in my life,” she says. She says it helps define who she is and how she treats others.

“I’m Catholic, but I go to other churches as well,” she says.

She recalls the visit to Phoenix by Mother Teresa of Calcutta in 1989. The Roman Catholic nun, founder of the Missionaries of Charity and a Nobel laureate, helped raise $40,000 for a home for the poor run by nuns near the state Capitol. Mrs. Mofford says she contributed the first $5,000.

It was during that visit that an event was held for Mother Teresa at Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Phoenix. The arena was packed with Arizonans of many religions, waiting for the “Angel of Mercy” to appear. Before she did, Mrs. Mofford, easily one of the most recognizable political figures in Arizona with her towering white beehive hair, strode across the floor to her seat. As she did, the crowd cheered and roared its thunderous approval. Virtually everyone stood up. It was an emotional expression of thanks.

Her Rolodex

Mrs. Mofford, even though she says she has a good memory, always kept notes on acquaintances.

When she was visiting a community, she’d check her Rolodex carefully. It contained information on just about everybody and everything, including notes on the name of the family dog or the aunt who suffered a broken leg.

Years As Governor

Whatever else Mrs. Mofford has done or will do, she is best remembered for the nearly three years she served as governor, succeeding impeached Governor Evan Mecham. “That was a sad day for Arizona and the saddest day of my life,” Mrs. Mofford recalls. Mr. Mecham was impeached by the House on Feb. 5, 1988, and was convicted by the Senate on April 4. As secretary of state, she became governor — a Democrat succeeding a Republican ousted by a GOP-controlled Legislature.

“I have remained friends with Governor Mecham and we have exchanged Christmas cards,” she says. “He was always gracious to me and my staff. Before the impeachment he’d come into my [secretary of state] office and say, ‘You know, I can type. I’ll help you out.’”

She pauses and says, “I’m most proud of bringing stability to the state of Arizona. I wrote 30,000 letters and assured state employees there wouldn’t be a mass firing. I made them feel that they were part of state government. I’m so glad I was able to keep things in order. To this day when I run into them, it’s a pleasure to hear them say, ‘You did a great job.’”

The Athlete

Sports have been a big part of Mrs. Mofford’s life, going back to her years at Globe High School where she played tennis and basketball and was a softball star. In her senior year she was offered a contract to play basketball with the famed All American Redheads (she was a redhead at the time), but decided against a pro basketball career. She did, however, accept an invitation to play first base for the amateur Cantaloupe Queens softball team in Phoenix during the summer of 1939. The team won the national championship that year, thanks in no small part to the play of Mrs. Mofford.

That was the year she met another softball star, Joe Hunt, who successfully ran for state treasurer in 1940. She became Mr. Hunt’s secretary in January 1941 and began a career in state government that ended 50 years later in 1991.

While she was governor, Mrs. Mofford assembled a committee to save the Cactus League from possibly disbanding. Several Major League Baseball teams that conducted spring training in Arizona were threatening to move to Florida, but the Mofford team held things together and today the Cactus League is flourishing.

She recalls the unprecedented events of the 1989 World Series that was suspended for several days after a devastating earthquake struck the San Francisco Bay area. The Oakland A’s returned to their Spring Training site at Phoenix Municipal Stadium to keep in shape, and Mrs. Mofford, being the sports fan she is, strolled into the clubhouse to greet the team.

In true Mae West fashion, she looked around the room at such stars as Jose Canseco and Ricky Henderson and said, “Hello, boys!” A chorus of “Hey, Governor” was the response. Mrs. Mofford, knowing that Mr. Canseco had been struggling at the plate, offered to pinch-hit for him, and Mr. Canceso replied, “Governor, you can bat for me any time.”

Mrs. Mofford also was part of the state’s contingent that wooed the National Football League’s Super Bowl to Arizona in 1996, but she gives Arizona Cardinals owner Bill Bidwill most of the credit.

Mrs. Mofford is a regular at the Phoenix Mercury Women’s National Basketball Association’s games during the summer at American West Arena. She still stands out in a crowd and is greeted in the stands by fans of hers and the team. “The little ones see my white hair and sit on my lap and ask, ‘Are you Mrs. Claus?’ I love it.’’

One lasting tribute is the Rose Mofford Sports Complex at 9833 N. 25th Ave., in Phoenix. It is operated by Phoenix Parks and Recreation Department and is a venue for softball, soccer, tennis, basketball and volleyball. “There isn’t a day goes by that some elderly person doesn’t come up to me and say they walk at the Rose Mofford Sports Complex, or some youngster who plays softball there,” Mrs. Mofford says. She thanks the city of Phoenix for making the sports complex a reality, and especially mentions former Mayor Skip Rimsza.

Polly Rosenbaum

Mrs. Mofford reminisces about Arizonans she has known over the years. Polly Rosenbaum, a former state legislator who died last December at the age of 104, was a longtime Globe resident and a lifelong friend. “She never forgot a thing,” Mrs. Mofford says. “If I ever had to have any information about anything in state government, Polly was there with the answer. It might take her a few minutes, but she could remember every bill. She was complimentary of everybody in the Legislature, except the last few years she thought they were dragging their feet. I never heard Polly really hammer anybody. The greatest hurt
she had was when they said she was incompetent and shouldn’t be re-elected. She was competent to the end, right to the night before she died.

“Polly was the most wonderful role model anybody could have. I met her in 1940, or maybe before that. My folks wanted to change her name to Perica because she was always at our house. Polly Perica would have been her name. Everybody loved Polly in Gila County. She was very straightforward and honest. When she gave you an answer you could take it to the bank. We didn’t gossip. We just talked about the good old days.”

Wesley Bolin

Wesley Bolin, the longtime secretary of state who became governor in 1977 and died in office in 1978, was well liked by children because he went to fairs and would ride horses and milk cows, Mrs. Mofford says. “I worked for him for 25 years, and when I left to get a promotion at the Department of Revenue he was bitter. When he became governor he wanted me to handle his campaign, and I said no. He was kinda difficult. He saw things his way and only his way, but he was nice to his staff.”

Mrs. Mofford recalls that Mr. Bolin dispatched John McGowan, a political operative, and Robert Creighton, then-publisher of the Arizona Capitol Times, to urge her to leave the revenue department. “He [Mr. Bolin] wanted me to be secretary of state. I didn’t want to take a pay cut, but it turned out all right.

“It was the right move,” she says, “because it’s the best job in Arizona. You meet so many people. I told Jane Hull that. I told Betsey Bayless that and I told Jan Brewer that. It’s better than being governor.”

Mrs. Mofford says she got along well with Bruce Babbitt, who as attorney general succeeded Mr. Bolin [Mrs. Mofford, as an appointed secretary of state, was not eligible to become governor at that time]. “We always had a lot of fun,” she says. “He was the youngest governor we ever had. We parked in the basement [under the Executive Tower] and one day he said something about the Central Arizona Project (CAP), and I said, ‘I don’t want to correct you but…’ And he said, ‘How would you know?’ I said, ‘Young man, I was here when you were born.’”

Barry Goldwater

Barry Goldwater, Mrs. Mofford says, “was my good friend, right to the end.” The Arizona senator died in 1998. She adds, “We appeared at more functions together, he on one side and me on the other. We did a fund-raiser for Congressman Mo Udall. It was for the arts, it wasn’t political. I think it went down as one of the greatest fund-raisers in Arizona history. I said to Barry, ‘This is the first time I’d cross the stage and agree with you.’

“He was always kind to me. I designed a button for him when he ran for president [in 1964]. It had his signature on it and his glasses, but they didn’t use it. I still have a few of them.”

Morris Udall And Bob Stump

The late Arizona Congressman Morris Udall always was ready with a joke, Mrs. Mofford says. He would say that she got her hairstyle from the windswept community of St. Johns.

Former baseball player Joe Garagiola Sr. is another who poked fun at her hair. “He said I got my hairdo from Dairy Queen because of the swirl,” Mrs. Mofford says.

She says she enjoyed working with sports entrepreneur Jerry Colangelo on various community projects and became good friends with Cotton Fitzsimmons, the former Phoenix Suns coach who died this year. “We worked together on the Life Teen program, a youth ministry of the Catholic Church,” she says. “When he passed away I sent $500 to the Suns Charities. I wish I could have sent $5,000, because they do so many good things.”

Of Eddie Basha, the Valley grocery chain owner, Mrs. Mofford says, “There is nobody in the world like Eddie Basha. He gives food to families, to schools and for charity. He’s the most gracious person I ever knew. I never heard him hammer anybody.”

The late Congressman Bob Stump “was my all-time favorite,” she says. “He told me I reminded him of his mother. His death was a great loss. He was a class act.”

About a month after Mrs. Mofford underwent gall bladder surgery in December 1989, she announced that she would not run for a full four-year term as governor. “At the time, she said, “There are so many things I want to do, and I’m not sure there’s enough time in my life to do them all.”

She recalls, “I was 69 and I had earned my retirement as an employee and an elected official. I wanted to enjoy the rest of my life. You know, you could die in office. I decided to help my family, and I’m glad I chose not to run.”

While she was in the hospital recuperating from the gall bladder surgery, Terry Goddard, who ran successfully for the Democratic nomination for governor in 1990, but lost to Republican Fife Symington in a run-off, and Mr. Goddard’s father Sam, who was chairman of the state Democratic Party, visited her.

There were rumors at the time that the Goddards encouraged her not to run. “No,” Mrs. Mofford says, “they didn’t. That never happened. They came to see me in the hospital, but not for that.”

Mrs. Mofford confirms that occasionally she “disappeared” from the Governor’s Office. Her DPS security staff would scurry around looking for her in the Executive Tower, floor after floor, but she wasn’t there. She’d slip out, drive home, and kick back for a couple of hours. “Once the DPS lost me at the Phoenix Open,” she says. “I got in a golf cart with one of the Thunderbirds and the security guys were running all over talking into their sleeves.”

Retirement And Golf

The former governor says she does a lot of charity work, gives speeches and is enjoying life. “I feel strongly about education,” she says, “and I encourage people, young and old, to learn to play golf. The reason? It opens a lot of doors. In an office or business, they’re always looking for a foursome.”

Mrs. Mofford mentions the Governors Cup charity golf tournament she co-sponsors with former Governor Jane Dee Hull and the current chief executive Janet Napolitano. “Now, that’s history,” Mrs. Mofford says. “No other state has ever had three women governors.”

Mines, Minerals And Memories

Her prize collection of Arizona memorabilia is on display at the Arizona Museum of Mines and Minerals, 1502 W. Washington St. The Mofford Gallery consists of about 1,000 items acquired during her years of government service. “I didn’t donate it,” she says. “It’s on loan. If they close the place I’ll have my lawyer dole it out to some of the little cities. It has brought a lot of pleasure for kids, and pleasure for me to go there and talk to the kids.” She values the collection of copper, sports items and pictures, kachinas and rocks at around $200,000.

“I’m not sure how much it’s worth,” Mrs. Mofford says, “and that doesn’t make any difference if it brought some pleasure to the students and their faculty.”

Mrs. Mofford says it was a delight to have worked with 12 of the state’s governors. “They were from different political parties, but we never had any problems.”

The 3 ‘Rs’

So the keys to her success go back to her own three “R’s.” “I like people and I never wanted to see anybody hurt,” says Rose Perica Mofford. “Maybe I was raised that way by my parents. People treat me the way they would want me to treat them.”

Perhaps she should add another “R” – for relationships.

“I told some k
ids recently to always keep in touch with your friends. Don’t forget them.” —