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Show OREM MAYOR NO, 17 STELLA WELSH In the 224-year history of the United States of ; America, a woman has never served as President of ; the United States, or as Vice President. During that ' same period, relatively few women have served in the halls of Congress, or as Governors of the fifty States. Even in the Utah State Legislature, gender parity has never been reached, although a number of female State Representatives and Senators are elected every two years. Traditionally, the politics of municipal government in America have been, largely, dominated by representatives of the male gender. It even took over a half-a-century for the voters of Orem to elect a woman to serve on the Orem City Council. STELLA WELSH In 1991 Stella Welsh was elected Mayor of Orem. She served the last two years of the four-year term to which Mayor S. Blaine Willes had been elected, as : i ' well as an additional four-year term. Her six years of service as Mayor of Orem occurred during a period of explosive growth in the city, when both commercial and residential developers from all over the country had targeted Orem as a prime location for investment. For over 70 years, many people wondered why there were no hotels in Orem. Stella Welsh wondered, as well. And when proposals for hotels in Orem landed on her desk, during her term of office, she thought it was about time Orem had a hotel. Grandiose plans for a hotel at the old Hale Plant site, owned by Utah Power & Light, were proposed, and negotiations were conducted. After several months, the hotel proposal was dropped by the developer. No one seemed very surprised. But then, other developers began to see Orem, as an absolutely feasible location for a hotel. The first hotel was, finally, built in Orem. Then, another. Before Stella Welsh left office, several hotels had been built or planned in Orem. 1992 -1997 I suspect people would be surprised to know the impact Stella Welsh has had on hotel promotion and hospital development in Orem. She was a "hands-on" Mayor, seemingly involved in nearly everything, relating to the development of Orem. Although I always saw her as a person who was not driven by a sense of importance, she excelled in using the trappings of her office in advancing a worthy cause, or triggering special recognition for someone whose contributions may have been overlooked. Page 70 |
