When it comes to local and regional Democratic politics, few have had as much influence – and enjoyed as much respect – as Emily “Emy” Thurber of Los Altos. For more than 30 years, she has been a go-to community leader, committed to such causes as the environment and women’s rights. If you were a Democratic candidate in Santa Clara County and wanted to get elected, you went to see Thurber.
“Emy Thurber is the heart and soul of the local Democratic Party,” said Bill James of Los Altos, chairperson of the Santa Clara County Democratic Party. “Emy has mentored countless candidates, elected officials and Democratic Party leaders through the years.”
Next month, Thurber, 91, will be leaving Los Altos to move closer to family members in the Seattle area.
“I’m trading all my political friends for my family members,” she said last week.
Career volunteer
Thurber will say good-bye to a place she has called home since 1956, when she and husband Jim, a Stanford University administrator, came to town. From nearly the very beginning, Thurber was volunteering – well, sort of.
When Almond School was recruiting PTA volunteers, she volunteered her husband.
“I don’t know what happened to me, but I picked up Jim’s hand and I raised it,” she said.
Jim Thurber Sr. went on to serve as Los Altos mayor in the early 1960s before serving as a diplomat with the U.S. Information Agency, work that took the Thurbers overseas and to Washington, D.C., over a 23-year period. They returned to Los Altos in 1990 when he retired. Jim died in 2018.
While in D.C. in the 1970s, Thurber went to work for U.S. Sen. Alan Cranston. A longtime Los Altos Hills resident, Cranston represented California for 24 years.
“It was absolutely thrilling to work in the Senate,” she said of the experience. “I would have paid him to allow me to do that.”
It was when the Thurbers returned to Los Altos, their four children grown, that Thurber stepped up her volunteering and political involvement.
She started with Los Altos Sister Cities, appropriately a diplomatic group dedicated to spreading goodwill among select communities around the world. She also volunteered at the Los Altos History Museum and worked on school bond measures. She served as president of the Los Altos-based Sempervirens Fund, which figured prominently in the formation of Big Basin Redwoods State Park. She also was a founding member of the advocacy group Los Altos Women’s Caucus.
Women’s Caucus members are sad to see her go.
“Emy is the living embodiment of the value and effectiveness of civility in politics,” said former Los Altos Mayor Marge Bruno, a fellow co-founder of Los Altos Women’s Caucus. “With her combination of charm, empathy and deep intelligence, I have seen her win more people over to her side than anyone else I have ever known. Women’s Caucus and the community as a whole were so very lucky to have had her as one of our leaders. She will surely be missed.”
Thurber remained involved in politics, serving at the local, regional and state levels. She’s a longtime member of the Peninsula Democratic Coalition and served as president. The coalition honored her at a recent event. She was also active on the Santa Clara County Central Committee and with the state’s Democratic Party, where she served as regional director and was on the resolutions committee for 20 years.
“My goal was to make sure that we put out resolutions that were well-written, good policies, but were nicely put together,” she said. “I can’t tell you how badly some people write.”
At one point, she was nicknamed “the grammar lady.”
Optimistic outlook
Charm, grace and civility certainly describe Thurber, but the one word that comes to mind for her: “optimism.” Despite all the reported gloom and doom about Democratic lawmakers’ prospects in the midterm elections, she maintains her rosy outlook.
“I’m optimistic nationally,” she said. “I think the party is kind of coming together. We do have a strong liberal wing, but the country is a little more moderate. The more moderate part of the Democratic Party has come forth.”
Thurber was encouraged by the recent passage of a landmark bill funding health care and the fight against climate change.
She was discouraged, however, by the recent U.S. Supreme Court decision that overturned Roe v. Wade.
“It put women back into the dark ages,” she said. “I didn’t think they would do such a stupid thing.”
But she sees the decision as galvanizing Democratic support from women of both parties. And she remains hopeful that the Democrats will hold on to the Senate and maybe even
the House.
Thurber has received numerous honors over the years for her work, most recently in 2019 when former State Sen. Jerry Hill proclaimed her Woman of the Year.
Asked why she’s a Democrat, Thurber cited a family history steeped in left-wing politics.
“I think the Democratic Party cares about people, it cares about equality and social justice – values I was raised with,” she said.
The civil Thurber is unhappy with today’s political scene.
“It’s really sad to see the anger and the loss of faith in the system,” she said. “I think we’re trying to figure out all the new ways of communicating, the social media and so forth. It’s so easy to deceive people. Hopefully we’ll be able to come back and have sources of information that are trustworthy. Now, I think people are very suspicious. … Part of that was fostered by our former president, who just kept saying lies. But I’m an optimist by nature, so I’m hoping we’ll figure this out. Getting there won’t be so easy.”
Thurber plans to stay politically involved as long as she can as she embarks on her new life in Washington state.
She stated as one main goal: “I want to live through 2024 so I can vote for Gavin (Newsom) for president,” she said.
Thurber is optimistic she can do it.
