Arizona’s 1st female governor, Rose Mofford, dies at 94
PHOENIX — When Rose Mofford was thrown into the role of Arizona’s governor, she was also plunged into a political hailstorm. With her predecessor impeached, a budget deficit and the state refusing to enact the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday, Arizona was making headlines for all the wrong reasons.
As Republicans and Democrats questioned what the future would bring, the state’s first female governor worked with a steady hand to navigate the tumultuous era and turned out to be the right leader at the right time.
“She was a healing force because she was so well known and trusted,” said Alan Stephens, a Democrat and state Senate minority leader during Mofford’s tenure. “We went through a chaos … but then we went through the restoration and the return to civility.”
Mofford died Thursday at age 94. She was injured in a fall and went to a hospice facility last month, former spokeswoman and longtime friend Athia Hardt said.