Remembrance for Sara Robertson, Worcester's first woman mayor, to be held Friday

WORCESTER — A remembrance for Sara Robertson, Worcester's first woman mayor, will be held Friday afternoon at the Beechwood Hotel on Plantation Street.

The event is open to the public and will go from 3 to 5 p.m., according to Robertson's daughter, Sarah Way.

Robertson, 88, died May 7 at her home at Hobe Sound, Florida, after a brief illness.

Robertson was sworn in as mayor in 1982, at the time the mayor was selected by their fellow city councilors.

The City Council had been all-male until 1973, when when three women were elected; they lost their seats in the following election and Robertson became the fourth woman elected to the council in 1979.

The race for mayor was wide open after the 1981 municipal election because incumbent Jordan Levy decided not to seek another term. One councilor, Paul T. Leahy, also boycotted the caucus because he believed the people, not the council, should be electing the mayor.

There were four front-runners for the job that year — Thomas J. Early, Joseph M. Tinsley, John B. Anderson and Timothy J. Cooney Jr. — but none was able to get the necessary five votes after the first 14 ballots in the straw vote. The caucus was then suspended for a week.

Robertson was elected mayor following 14 additional ballots after her fellow councilors decided to free their supporters to break the logjam.

During her tenure, Robertson used the mayor's office as a soapbox to promote Worcester throughout the state and New England. She made speeches about Worcester at seminars and conferences she attended at her own expense across the Northeast, as well as through appearances she made on Boston TV talk and news shows.

Robertson served as mayor from 1982 to 1984. She left the City Council in 1988 after she decided not to seek reelection.

This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: Remembrance for Sara Robertson, Worcester's first woman mayor, Friday