Sonoma County environmental activist, historical preservationist Lucy Kortum dies at 94

Any history or conversation about the legacy of environmentalism in Sonoma County is bound at some point to land on the contributions of the Kortum family.

The late Bill Kortum’s name may perhaps sound more familiar, but only because his wife, Lucy, who died Wednesday, Nov. 30 at age 94, was content to work in his shade, friends and family said.

The two were a power couple before that phrase was invented, a humble pair rearing a family in rural Petaluma, attuned to the land and to the ruin that lay on the horizon as the 1960s arrived and expansive development on Sonoma County’s coast and open spaces loomed.

Though Bill had a higher profile, Lucy was long an equal partner in a decadeslong effort to preserve the North Coast landscape, helping to forge a culture of environmentalism and conservation that still reigns in the region.

For decades, she balanced family life with environmental and political activism, extending her education and contributing to local historic preservation efforts.

Their campaigns included the defeat of plans by Pacific Gas & Electric to build a nuclear power plant on Bodega Head, protection of public access to 10 miles of north Sonoma Coast along which The Sea Ranch subdivision was proposed in the early 1960s, and eventual passage of a state proposition in 1972 that led to creation of the California Coastal Commission and the landmark California Coastal Act.

Lucy Kortum and her husband also were active in many Democratic Party campaigns.

Intellectually curious and energetic throughout her life, she was engaging in animated conversations around the Nov. 8 election even as she found her health in sudden decline, friends and family said.

When she died — the cause was congestive heart failure — she was accepting of the end and uninterested in lifesaving interventions, for which her family was grateful, daughter Julie Groves said.

“She was comfortable talking about it, and it made us comfortable talking about it and comfortable with each step,” said Groves, a Los Gatos resident.

Lucy Deam was born in Coronado, California, the daughter of a Naval aviator whose childhood took her cross-country several times around her father’s redeployments.

She earned a bachelor’s degree from Pomona College after World War II and moved to San Francisco with some classmates, bringing her to Northern California, where she would meet her husband and settle for the remainder of her life.

She and Bill, a large animal veterinarian, married in 1953 and moved eventually to the chicken ranch on Ely Road in Petaluma where he was raised and where they would live out their lives in a unique home Bill designed.

They raised two sons and a daughter, the middle child, while Lucy Kortum helped at her husband’s veterinary practice. The kids were still in school when Lucy Kortum went back to college to get a teaching credential at what was then Sonoma State College, later taking a job as a nursing department administrator for the next 17 years. She would later return to classes and earn a master’s degree in history in 1991.

Groves, then in grade school, remembers feeling proud and empowered having such a courageous mother. And it was instructive, too, the way her mom delegated chores around the house to her offspring and one of their cousins, who was living there at the time.

“She was ahead of her time,” Groves said.

Bill Kortum’s own political career had started with the Petaluma School Board. He later ran for Congress and was elected Sonoma County supervisor. He was recalled in a campaign driven by development interests two years later, in 1976.

He and his wife were increasingly focused on environmentalism as large proposals affecting the coast came to the fore, including the so-called “Hole in the Head” near Bodega Bay and The Sea Ranch development, which would have sealed off 10 miles of coastline.

It was not unusual for the children to come along as their parents walked door to door or attended rallies and political events, including hosting some in their home, reportedly built with a two-story wall of windows and huge basalt columns like those at Devil’s Postpile National Monument near Mammoth Lakes.

Known as a great cook, Lucy Kortum would often serve up feasts created from vegetables harvested from the ranch garden, beef from cows a couple at a time and homemade pies, former Petaluma City Councilman Matt Maguire said.

Groves recalled watching her mom work behind the scenes, strategizing with her husband, refining messaging and editing articles, but always with Bill as the public face.

“She didn’t care,” Groves said, “but I can’t believe we let this slide for so long.”

Said Sonoma County historian Gaye LeBaron, a retired Press Democrat columnist, “Lucy was way up on top of my list of really remarkable women that I’ve known. She was quiet. She was fun. She stayed in the background and let Bill take the lead, but she was definitely there all the time, and she was smart as a whip.”

Even as she moved the county forward in land conservation, Lucy Kortum used her historical studies, focused on California’s Carnegie Libraries, to promote the addition of 10 state buildings to the National Register of Historic Places.

She volunteered with the Petaluma Historical Library and Museum and was said to be instrumental in the placement of the 1892 Petaluma Silk Mill on the National Register, as well, sparing it from demolition.

She was an avid fan of the Golden State Warriors, as well as the San Francisco Giants.

But mostly, said son-in-law Barry Groves, “Lucy was just the rock of the family.” She kept track of all the kids and grandkids, cousins and nieces and nephews, knew who was doing what at which school, where they had traveled, where they worked.

“Her values and her quiet leadership really kept this family together,” he said, “and her willingness to host political events, cultural events, Petaluma history … We have literally tens of thousands of photos that we’re curating that she’s collected over the years.”

The family hopes to hold a memorial in January.

In addition to daughter Julie Groves, she is survived by sons Frank Kortum of Glendale, California, Sam Kortum of New Haven, Connecticut, and five grandchildren.

The family suggests memorial gifts to Sonoma County Conservation Action at conservationaction.org or 540 Pacific Ave., Santa Rosa, Calif., 95404, and/or Coastwalk California at coastwalk.org or P.O. Box 26, Camp Meeker, Calif., 95419. Both were co-founded by Bill Kortum.

You can reach Staff Writer Mary Callahan (she/her) at 707-521-5249 or mary.callahan@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @MaryCallahanB.