March is Women’s History Month, and South Valley residents need
not look far to find ladies who made their marks on the world.
Women from Gilroy, Hollister and Morgan Hill have landed on the
pages of history right alongside Betsy Ross and Amelia Earhart.
March is Women’s History Month, and South Valley residents need not look far to find ladies who made their marks on the world. Women from Gilroy, Hollister and Morgan Hill have landed on the pages of history right alongside Betsy Ross and Amelia Earhart.
To kick the month off right, we’d like to introduce you to three such landmark women. Meet Gilroy’s Ivie Anderson Collins, who sang with Duke Ellington. Then there’s Sada Coe, a true Morgan Hill cowgirl who donated land that would become the largest state park in Northern California. Finally, read about Lorena Johnson, San Benito County’s first female justice of the peace.
Ivie Anderson Collins, Gilroy
Ivie Anderson Collins was born in Gilroy in 1903. At age 9, she began seriously studying vocal music at St. Mary’s Convent School. In 1916, she received a scholarship to the Nannie Burroughs Girls School in Washington, D.C., a finishing school for African-American girls. After graduation, she studied voice for two years under Sarah Ritt and was discovered in San Francisco in 1922 by a dance team.
Collins made her singing debut at Tait’s in Los Angeles in 1923 after touring as a dancer with the company. She joined the band of Duke Ellington as a singer in 1929. He helped her develop her singing style and stage presence, and he wrote many songs for her, including “I’ve Got it Bad, an’ That Ain’t Good,” “All God’s Chillun’ Got Rhythm” and “Troubled Waters.”
During the 1930s, Collins acted in several motion pictures and made numerous recordings. In 1942, she married and retired from the road, though she sang occasionally with Ellington’s band when it was in her Los Angeles neighborhood. Collins died in 1948.
Information courtesy of Gilroy Historical Museum.
Sada Coe, Morgan Hill
Sada Coe was born in San Jose in December 1910 and was brought to her father’s Pine Ridge Ranch at an early age. She spent many of her younger years away from the ranch, getting a “proper” education and instruction on the finer ways of life. But, her choice was always to don jeans and a cowboy hat, jump onto the back of a horse and ride into the hills. The ranch became a place she deeply loved.
Most of the old cowboys said Coe could ride a horse almost as well as the men. A few cowboys – probably the more honest ones – admitted that she could actually outdo most men. One old-timer told park ranger Barry Breckling that he could still see her in his mind’s eye, galloping full out down a ridge, moving so fast the brim of her hat was flattened against her head by the wind.
After Pine Ridge Ranch eventually fell into Coe’s hands, she gave it to Santa Clara County as a recreation area. In 1958, five years after receiving the land, the county sold the land to the state of California so it could be better managed. It continues to be a recreation area for the public. Coe died in 1979.
Information courtesy of ranger Barry Breckling and Henry W. Coe State Park.
Lorena Johnson, Hollister
In 1947, when Hollister’s justice of the peace resigned after the first motorcycle rally, which later became the Hollister Independence Day Rally, Lorena M. Johnson beat three other applicants to become the town’s first female judge.
Johnson, a San Benito County native who grew up on her family’s cattle ranch, had served as a part-time court reporter for 20 years before landing the historic position. At the time, she was one of just 25 women in California to hold the job of justice of the peace.
In a 1958 San Jose Mercury-News article, Johnson is quoted while talking about how more courts need a woman’s touch.
“Good old-fashioned horse-sense, not masculinity, is a judge’s most important asset,” she said. “It might be a good idea to have more women judges – not that most of the males aren’t competent, but a woman’s touch should be in a few more courtrooms.”
Johnson retired in 1964 because of poor health and died in 1972 at age 90.
Information courtesy of Mark Thomas’ “Wielding the Gavel.”
