Historical records matching Lila Cockrell, Mayor of San Antonio
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About Lila Cockrell, Mayor of San Antonio
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lila_Cockrell
Lila May Banks Cockrell (born January 19, 1922) is a former mayor of San Antonio, Texas. During World War II, she served in the WAVES branch of the United States Navy. She served as President of the Dallas and San Antonio chapters of the League of Women Voters during the 1950s.
San Antonio city mayor
After serving for a decade on the city council, including her 1969 service as the city's first woman mayor Pro Tem, Cockrell was elected in 1975 to the first of four two-year terms as Mayor of San Antonio. At the time of her inauguration, San Antonio's population gave her the status of the mayor over the largest American city being governed by a woman. She is often listed as the first woman in the United States to be elected mayor of a major metropolis. However, Bertha Knight Landes was mayor of Seattle 1926–1928. Cockrell's first three terms ran consecutively 1975–1981. At the end of her third term, she chose not to run because of the illness of her husband Sidney Earl Cockrell Jr. She was succeeded as mayor by Henry Cisneros. Widowed in 1988, she was elected to her fourth term as the city's mayor in 1989 when Cisneros left office.
Retirement
After retiring from political office, Cockrell served on many municipal commissions and civic boards. In 2013, she retired as president of the San Antonio Parks Foundation, a position she had held since 1998.
Honors
The Lila Cockrell Theatre, named in her honor, is part of the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center in Downtown San Antonio.
She was inducted into the Texas Women's Hall of Fame in 1984.
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Lila Cockrell, Mayor of San Antonio's Timeline
| 1922 |
January 19, 1922
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Fort Worth, Tarrant County, Texas, United States
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