The life and times of Coral Gables’ only woman mayor

THE THOMSON FAMILY, CHRISTMAS 1966

BY KAREN F. BUCHSBAUM

As a young mother walking her baby in the Bird Road/Red Road area, Dorothy Thomson used to look across Red Road and think “I’m going to live in Coral Gables someday because they have sidewalks.” In 1959, she and her beloved late husband Jack made good on that dream.

Advance the clock 64 years. She’s engaging, intelligent, and full of interesting, colorful tidbits of local history. Sharp as a tack, turning 91 this month, Dorothy still has the innate ability to have a thought-provoking conversation. And the most important part of that conversation, she’ll tell you, is to listen to what people have to say.

You could say listening got her where she is today. Involved with the community, PTA, and civic groups, this busy mother of four was encouraged to run for office in order to be heard. “My group was trying to figure out who we could ask to get something done in the community when someone said, ‘Why not one of us?’” she recalls.

Dorothy was already a force in the community. Her daughter, June Thomson Morris, recalls sitting with a friend outside West Lab Elementary School when she was in third or fourth grade. “I saw my mother walking across the grass, perfectly dressed with heels, as always, and my friend said, ‘Is that your mom? She’s so beautiful.’ I remember feeling such pride. I always had that pride. When she walked in, she commanded the room, feminine but strong. She always had a presence about her.”

During June’s senior year at Gables High in 1979, Dorothy and Jack gathered the family together and announced her decision to run for the Coral Gables Commission. June laughs when she says, “She forced me to recruit my friends to go door-to-door and campaign for her.”

“I loved campaigning,” says Dorothy. “I was used to campaigning for other candidates but never gave it a thought to run myself.” When she did jump in the race a few months before the election, it was, in her words, a “tough row to hoe.” She walked miles, visiting about every home in the Gables to introduce herself and her ideas.

“My dad was the creative one, coming up with campaign ideas, and he and mom would have fun working out the details and getting them done,” says June. In those more innocent times, campaign promotions included a sewing kit and a heart-shaped sponge. Eventually, a friend of Dorothy’s, Coral Gables composer Vera Hunt Gallogly, even sat down at a piano and composed a campaign song.

The Commission race followed different rules back in 1979 when Dorothy first ran. “It was so unique, people made fun of it,” she says. Comparing the contest to a crowded horse race, she explains that residents got to cast candidate votes for both mayor and commissioner, which meant you voted for one person twice. When the votes were tabulated the two with the most votes got a four-year seat and the next two a two-year seat. The mayor’s position was a two-year seat.

June explains, “One of the things that makes me proudest is the fact that she even

“ I LOVED CAMPAIGNING. I WAS USED TO CAMPAIGNING FOR OTHER CANDIDATES BUT NEVER GAVE IT A THOUGHT TO RUN MYSELF.” ran for office when she did. It was a good old boys club then and she ran against an incumbent.”

DOROTHY, ABOVE, BEING SWORN INTO OFFICE.

Not long before election day, Dorothy’s opponent took out a two-page spread in the Miami Herald filled with names of all the prominent men who supported him. When Dorothy saw the ad, she was surprised and had a moment of doubt. It was Jack’s idea to take out a full-page ad in response, with a photo of the family and the theme, “I am supported by my family and my dog Brandy.”

Presents

by Karen Zacarías

Directed by: Victoria Collado

Starring:

Kevin Cruz

Diana Garle

David Kwiat

Barbara Sloan

With the support of Shell Lumber & Hardware Company

JUNE 10 - JULY 16

Preview performance Friday, June 9

In this sparkling comedy of good intentions and bad manners, cultures and gardens clash, turning wellintentioned neighbors into feuding enemies. Pablo, a rising attorney, and doctoral candidate Tania, his very pregnant wife, have just purchased a home next to Frank and Virginia, a well-established D.C. couple with a prize-worthy English garden. But an impending barbeque for Pablo’s colleagues and a delicate disagreement over a long-standing fence line soon spiral into an all-out border dispute, exposing both couples’ notions of race, taste, class and privilege.

Skillful Comedy…Bright and Witty and Clever.” – Cincinnati.com www.gablestage.org Box Office: 305.445.1119

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“And then she won,” says June, “and that was another great inspiration to me.”

Dorothy was elected to a two-year seat, winning a four-year seat after the next election, and, in 1985, was elected the first (and only) female mayor of Coral Gables. In each race, she won against all odds on the strength of support from her neighbors. “I met Dorothy during my first campaign season prior to her election as mayor,” said former Mayor Raul Valdés-Fauli. “I liked her and hoped she would win. She was always a very, very hard worker and she had foresight.”

At the time, the Biltmore Hotel was in desperate shape. It was “horrible, falling apart,” according to Valdés-Fauli. “She was the leader of the movement to keep the Biltmore in accord with George Merrick’s ideas.”

By the late ’70s, the once-grand Gilded Age hotel was shuttered and crumbling. Frequented by squatters and littered with broken glass and debris, it had become a neighborhood eyesore. Many wanted it torn down, builders were salivating over the property, and some wanted condos on the site.

Because of her work to save and restore the Biltmore, Dorothy found herself at a crossroads of opinion with many residents. The controversy surprised her, and she compared the situation to “a sword through my heart.” Everyone had an opinion. Dorothy decided she needed to listen to what the residents had to say.

During the most incendiary meeting she ever conducted, the Commission chamber was packed with angry residents. Because there was so much discord, Dorothy decreed everyone would have the opportunity to be heard, without interruption. And, one by one, everyone got to speak their mind. Leave it alone, repurpose the building, or tear it down. When no one was left to talk, Dorothy took a deep breath, called for discussion, and took a vote of the Commission. It narrowly carried three to two, with Valdés-Fauli voting in favor. The Biltmore would be saved and restored to reflect George Merrick’s vision. “It was the right historic move,” says Valdés-Fauli. “If not saved, it would’ve been a blow to our historic memory.”

That was also good news to share with Eunice Peacock Merrick, the widow of George Merrick, who would call Dor-

“ I MET DOROTHY DURING MY FIRST CAMPAIGN SEASON PRIOR TO HER ELECTION AS MAYOR. I LIKED HER AND HOPED SHE WOULD WIN. SHE WAS ALWAYS A VERY, VERY HARD WORKER AND SHE HAD FORESIGHT.”

FORMER MAYOR RAUL VALDÉS-FAULI othy and ask, “Tell me what’s going on in George’s city.”

Saving the Biltmore is certainly Dorothy’s most prominent legacy, but just one of many, including co-founding the Coral Gables and Miami-Dade County Citizens Crime Watch. But the combative battle hurt Dorothy’s prospects for re-election. “You can’t make everyone happy,” she reflects. Things were changing and, politics being politics, she lost.

Dorothy didn’t waste the years she