Former Novato Mayor Named City's Citizen Of The Year

From the Novato Citizen of the Year Committee:

Decades ago, the Novato Citizen of the Year for 2016 fell in love with her boss. Once she even fell in love with a used car. But most of this story is how she fell in love with the city she calls home.

Jeanne MacLeamy, a 31-year Novato resident who served 12 years on the Novato City Council and has contributed so much to civic causes – still does – was surprised with the honor during the 2017 Paint the Town Red gala, held Friday night at the Margaret Todd Senior Center. The party is the city’s annual birthday celebration, and this was No. 57.

MacLeamy was swarmed by family members (who had been hiding out in another room) following the announcement by Citizen of the Year committee chair Dietrich Stroeh, who loves to keep the big news a secret. MacLeamy shared the stage with the Novato Chamber of the Commerce’s small and large businesses of the year, Valley Oak Wealth Management and Ultragenyx Pharmaceutical, respectively.

First, the used car tale.

As her husband Patrick MacLeamy tells it, Jeanne grew up in Flint, Michigan, in a loyal General Motors family. With GM headquarters looming nearby, people who drove Fords and Chryslers in Flint were practically run out of town. Jeanne drove a Buick Skylark, a GM product her father had bought her, when she went west to start her new life in the Bay Area.

“That Buick got old, and she bought a used Mercedes in San Rafael,” Patrick said. “Considering her family roots, that was a supreme act of courage to let her parents know. But she fell in love with it and got it for a good price.”

How the lovebirds met is quite a story, too. He was Patrick Leamy at the time, with no Mac. She was Jeanne MacArthur, his new assistant at the international HOK architecture firm in San Francisco.

“I came back from a week’s vacation and there she was,” Patrick said. “She didn’t have a clue who I was. She thought I was a traveling salesman.”

They worked together a few months, then the company started giving Jeanne her own projects and she piled up her successes. Eventually she was the first woman at HOK to become a vice president.

“She was a powerhouse for the company, a real pioneer in that era, and we ended up really loving to work together,” Patrick said. “We had never held hands, never kissed, never had a first date, but we decided to get married. It’s true.”

They became a family immediately in 1975 because of Elisabeth, Patrick’s daughter from a previous marriage. Patrick and Jeanne told the wedding party that they were going to create a new family name. They came up with MacLeamy. When Patrick Jr. joined them after a move from San Francisco to Marin, the baby became the first official MacLeamy thanks to an understanding judge with the Marin County Superior Court. “He wanted to make sure we weren’t running away from debts first,” Poppa Patrick said.

Today, Elisabeth Leamy is a TV journalist, author and speaker that you might know from the “Dr. Oz Show.” Young Patrick is a licensed psychologist. Together the “kids” have borne three grandchildren for Jeanne and Patrick.

Then there’s the story of Jeanne falling in love with Novato. The two architects spent nine yearsliving in an Eichler home in Lucas Valley and then looked for a piece of land on which they could design and build their new home. They found a property in Pacheco Valle and staked a claim. Jeanne ended up designing the house, with Patrick contributing some refinements. Not long after, she joined the City of Novato’s Design Review Committee (before it was a commission). She began to meet people and get even more involved.

“Eventually they were saying, ‘You should run for City Council,’” Patrick recalled. “And she would say, ‘Oh, come on!’ We both thought that was nutso.”

She ended up serving as mayor three times over her 12-year tenure on the City Council. When she ran for a third term, the Marin Independent Journal editorial board endorsed her and wrote, “MacLeamy … deserves a lot of the credit for the city finally accomplishing a long-held vision, building a new city hall complex in Old Town. Her skillful and effective guidance is important at City Hall.” Last year, by coincidence, Jeanne served on the IJ’s editorial board.

“Jeanne should just be selected as Citizen of the Year. She should be named Citizen of the Decade,” wrote her nominator, Eric Lucan, one of her past City Council mates. “What really sets Jeanne apart are all the areas where she continually went above and beyond and gave of her time for the betterment of the community.”

The list of her local accolades is a mile long. In 2002, Novato Rotary named her a Paul Harris Fellow for her assistance with the development of a senior housing complex called Nova Ro III. That same year, Saint Mark’s School in San Rafael named its arts and science building after her for her many years of service. She has held titles with the Marin Emergency Radio Authority, North Bay Watershed Association, Novato Finance Authority, Marin County Council of Mayors and Councilmembers, Novato City Hall Renovation Committee, Fourth of July Parade Committee, Spring Egg Hunt Committee, Holiday Tree Lighting Committee, Novato City Hall Buy a Brick Campaign, and the Novato 50-Year Anniversary Steering Committee.

“Jeanne recognized that the heart and soul of our community wasn’t the inside of the council chambers,” Lucan wrote. “Instead it was out in the community where she was participating and helping organize all the beloved events.”

Patrick said the City Hall renovation would rank No. 1 for Jeanne because it was the most fun for her as an architect interested in preserving a piece of local history. “But if you asked her about the best thing about all her Novato experiences, she’s going to say it’s the people,” he said. “She just loves meeting and working with people.

“I’m just thrilled about all this,” he added,” but of course I’m very biased. She has just poured her heart and soul into Novato.”

– Submitted by the Novato Citizen of the Year Committee

– Photo: Citizen of the Year Jeanne MacLeamy along with Mayor Denise Athas and Councilman Eric Lucan. Courtesy of Novato Citizen of the Year Committee