Longtime California Legislator Cathie Wright Dies
SIMI VALLEY, Calif. (AP) — Cathie Wright, a prominent Republican who represented eastern Ventura County in the state Legislature for two decades, has died.
The Ventura County Star reports Wright died Saturday in Simi Valley. She was 82.
The Pennsylvania native came to California at age 32 and managed a skating rink before being elected to the Simi Valley City Council. Wright won a race for an Assembly seat in 1980, serving 12 years. She went on to an eight-year stint in the Senate.
Her former colleagues in Sacramento said Wright was committed to helping children, the poor and the mentally ill. The Star says Wright was instrumental in crafting details of the state's welfare-to-work law.
She is survived by daughter Victoria Catherine Wright of Simi Valley.
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press.
