Rose Mofford

Early life

Mofford was born Rose Perica in Globe, Arizona, on June 10, 1922, the youngest of six children. Her parents, Frances (Oberstar) and John Perica, had immigrated to the United States from Croatia, then part of Austria–Hungary. The first female class president in the history of Globe High School, she had great success in both academics and athletics. She played basketball and was an All-American softball player.

She graduated in 1939 as class valedictorian and, based upon her father's advice, turned down an opportunity to play professional basketball with the All American Red Heads. She was married to Thorald Robert "Lefty" Mofford from 1957 to 1967, when they amicably divorced.

Civil service career

Following high school, Mofford began her career as a secretary for State Treasurer Joe Hunt. Two years later, when Hunt was promoted to the Arizona Tax Commission, Mofford followed her boss to the new position. In 1945, she left the Tax Commission and became business manager for Arizona Highways. Mofford returned to the Tax Commission in 1947 as executive secretary. Following Hunt's retirement in 1960, new commissioner Thad Moore fired Mofford, saying "we felt it was better to have a man in that job." Following her dismissal from the Tax Commission, Mofford was hired as an executive secretary by Secretary of State Wesley Bolin. She remained in the Secretary of State's office until 1975, when she became assistant director of the State Revenue Department (formerly the Tax Commission).

Elected office

When Governor Raúl Castro announced his resignation to become Ambassador to Argentina, Secretary Bolin ascended to the governorship. Arizona has no lieutenant governor; the secretary of state stands first in the line of succession to the governorship if holding office by election. Bolin in turn appointed Mofford to serve the remainder of his term as Secretary of State.

Bolin died in office on March 4, 1978. Although Mofford was Secretary of State, she held that post by appointment, so she did not ascend to the governorship. At the end of the term she ran for a full term as Secretary of State and won. She was reelected in 1982 and 1986. Mofford became known in the state capital as the friendly woman with a beehive hairdo, and her office gained a reputation as an efficient operation. She herself was noted for her punctuality, answering her own phone, and replying directly to her mail. In addition to her state position, she served from 1982 until 1983 as president of the National Association of Secretaries of State.

Governor Evan Mecham was impeached on February 8, 1988. Per the Arizona Constitution, his powers were suspended and Mofford became acting governor, as she was now Secretary of State by election. While most observers complimented her on the job she performed, Mecham objected to Mofford replacing the one state department head that he had appointed. Mecham was convicted on two of four articles in the impeachment trial and removed from office on April 4, 1988, and Mofford was sworn in as Governor for the balance of Mecham's term.

Mofford's primary goal as governor was to return stability to Arizona. Her efforts were widely held as providing a calming effect following the tumultuous impeachment and recall proceedings of her predecessor.

State Senate Democratic leader Alfredo Gutierrez said of her actions, "What she did was reinvest the system with dignity and honor." In early 1990, she announced that she had decided not to run for election to a full four-year term. She was succeeded by Fife Symington.

Personal life

She married Lefty Mofford, a captain with the Phoenix Police Department, in 1957. The couple divorced after a decade but remained friends until his death in 1983, and she kept his surname. They had no children. She never remarried.

After leaving office, Mofford dedicated her time to civic and charitable activities. In 1997, a scholarship fund was established in her name. She was a member of the Arizona Softball Hall of Fame, and municipal softball fields are named in her honor in both Butler and Phoenix. She served as chair of the campaign committee of Attorney General Terry Goddard's unsuccessful 2010 election bid for Governor of Arizona.

In the 2004 US presidential election, Mofford was a Democratic elector for Arizona supporting the presidential campaign of then-US Senator John Kerry. Arizona was won by incumbent President George W. Bush that year.

On August 31, 2016, after falling at her home, Mofford was admitted to a hospice. She died there on September 15, 2016, at the age of 94.

Grave marker

In 2017 a new grave marker was unveiled for Mofford's grave, which includes among other things images of her meeting Pope John Paul II in 1987 and Mother Teresa in 1989; those meetings were some of her favorite times as governor.