Lifelong Pittsburg resident, civil servant, 22-year Contra Costa Planning Commissioner, and member of the County Status of Women Commission — a quietly relentless advocate for the politics of place.
Carmen Gaddis (August 1, 1932 – August 2, 2018) was a lifelong resident of Pittsburg, California, and one of the 1999 inductees of the Contra Costa Herstory Project. In the Project's founding narrative, Sunne Wright McPeak names Carmen among the close colleagues and long-time NWPC volunteers whose 1999 gathering at Louise Aiello's Martinez home became the conversation that gave rise to the Herstory Project.
Carmen built her career as a civil servant in a long and varied federal career, but her published East Bay Times obituary emphasizes that she "volunteered throughout her life in leadership and political positions in pursuit of improving the quality of life for everyone." Within the federal service, she served as President of Federally Employed Women, a national organization advocating for women's equal opportunity, pay parity, and advancement inside the federal civil service — the kind of inside-the-system organizing that complemented NWPC's outside-the-system electoral work.
Locally, Carmen was a member of the Contra Costa County Status of Women Commission — the County advisory body whose creation NWPC had successfully fought for in 1975, after a packed public hearing in front of the Board of Supervisors during the United Nations International Women's Year. She then served 22 years on the Contra Costa County Planning Commission, the body that decides how the County grows, where housing goes, and which neighborhoods get protected. Two-plus decades on a single Planning Commission is a rare tenure: it requires renewed appointment by successive Boards of Supervisors of different political compositions, and it builds an institutional memory that no incoming chair can shortcut.
She was, the obituary notes, a champion of "many political candidates" who "delighted in each of their accomplishments" — a description that fits exactly the Founding-Mother model of Caucus organizing: identify women, recruit them, fund them, train them, send them, then celebrate their wins as your own. Her 1999 induction recognized both the inside-the-government work — Federally Employed Women, the Status of Women Commission, two decades on Planning — and the outside-the-government work that made other women's careers possible.
Carmen passed away on August 2, 2018, one day after her 86th birthday. Her family, in lieu of flowers, directed memorial donations to Save Mount Diablo — the East Bay land-conservation organization whose existence reflects the same deep love of place that had defined her life and work in Pittsburg.
Carmen Gaddis is born in Pittsburg, California, on August 1, 1932 — beginning a lifetime as a Pittsburg resident.
Carmen is among the early leaders of the Contra Costa National Women's Political Caucus, founded in 1973 with the focused mission of increasing the number of women in appointed and elected office in the County.
Within her long federal civil-service career, Carmen serves as President of Federally Employed Women, the national organization advocating for women's equal opportunity, pay parity, and advancement inside the federal government.
Serves on the Contra Costa County Status of Women Commission — the advisory body whose creation NWPC had successfully fought for in 1975 during a packed public hearing in front of the Board of Supervisors at the height of the United Nations International Women's Year.
Serves 22 years on the Contra Costa County Planning Commission — a rare multi-decade tenure that requires renewed appointment by successive Boards and that builds the kind of institutional memory no incoming chair can shortcut.
Attends the surprise gathering at Louise Aiello's Martinez home celebrating the 20th anniversary of Sunne McPeak's swearing-in as County Supervisor — the conversation that became the genesis of the Contra Costa Herstory Project.
Carmen passes away in Pittsburg on August 2, 2018, one day after her 86th birthday. In lieu of flowers, her family directs memorial donations to Save Mount Diablo — a final tribute to her deep love of Contra Costa County's land and people.