Judy Arnold
Class of 2025
Judy Arnold was born in Kansas City, Kansas, July 16, 1940. Her father put himself through law school by serving as a Pastor of the Brethren Church. Her mother became a Registered Nurse who later convinced the airline Trans World Airlines to bring in women hostesses on flights and then served as their first woman hostess. Her uniform is on display in the Smithsonian Museum of Aeronautics today.
Judy attended Goucher College in Maryland, and after spending two years in the all-girls school, she transferred The University of Kansas and graduated with a degree in International Relations.
After college, Judy was invited by two friends to move to Washington D.C. and work as a journalist for the Peace Corps. Judy j served in the Peace Corps for a year. During that time, she wrote to trade companies that provided services like plumbing, electrical and construction to convince them to partner with the Peace Corps and provide their services to under-developed foreign countries. One day, President Kennedy stopped by and thanked Judy for her help.
Judy married David Ainsworth in 1962, a Marine who just missed being deployed to Vietnam. In 1966, they moved to Marin County, where Judy joined the League of Women Voters, which was an amazing opportunity to learn more about local government. Judy was responsible for finding local issues the League could endorse.
One local issue the League endorsed was to add a transportation service, which would help locals with access to jobs that were outside of Marin. The owners of the commuter bus company met with representatives from the agency that needed to approve the service. The service was rejected due to it being a black-owned company. Stunned with the outright prejudice, Judy and the owner of the bus company went to Washington DC to meet with President Nixon’s staff representative (who turned out to be black), who listened, and said he would look into it. Three days later, an announcement came from the Nixon administration that if the agency did not hire the new bus company, they would lose funding from the Federal Government. The bus company was approved for operation and started running soon after.
Judy’s career in public service really took off at this time, while she was simultaneously raising two young children. During this time, Judy was inspired by her children to write and publish two children’s books: The Lost Smile and When I Grow U.
In 1971 Judy was happy to break a gender barrier when she was named “campaign manager” for Gary Giacomini’s run for Supervisor. She was the first woman to hold the title in a Marin County election. Once Giacomini was elected, Judy became Marin County’s first Supervisor’s Aid.
In the 1960s and 1970s California there was a movement called the “Jesus People Movement.” Growing up, Judy only went to church when she felt like it. Experiencing this movement was the beginning of a total change in her life and she found a new relationship with Jesus. It was during this time of her Christian journey that Judy met Bruce Arnold from Worcester, Massachusetts on New Year’s Eve at a prayer meeting, of all places. They married in 1974. Bruce was a musician and founder of the group Orpheus, with whom he released four albums and had a hit song, “Can’t Find The Time.” He later became a pastor. With Bruce (who had a son Oliver Arnold), Judy had another son John Mark Arnold. The family lived in Pt. Reyes for 10 years before moving to Novato.
Over 47 years of marriage, Judy and Bruce raised a family and started a Christian church in West Marin where Judy played the organ. She also worked in fundraising for Goodwill Industries for two years. Bruce passed away in 2022. When Judy asked Bruce what would be the first thing he’d do in Heaven, he said, “I’m going to sing and sing and sing.”
From 1998-2004 Judy worked for the legendary California State Senator and President pro Tempore, John Burton who recruited Judy to be on his staff as District Coordinator, focused on serving Marin and Sonoma residents needs with resources and assistance. Judy sees Burton as a political mentor. When discussing issues with Burton, he would always ask, “How does it help the poor”? That sentiment stuck with Judy who would remember it during her time in political office.
When Burton was termed out, Judy shifted to become the District Chief of Staff to Senator Carol Migden, continuing her work serving the Marin County community.
In 2003, Judy ran for Novato City Council against three incumbents; unseating two to hold her first elected public office. During her two years in office, she brought Trader Joes and Whole Foods to Novato in response to women expressing desire for having better, healthy food options. The president of Whole Foods of the Northern Pacific Region wrote Judy expressing how they had never been courted like Novato had done and they would be opening their store within the year. On that very same day Trader Joes called to confirm they were also coming.
During Judy’s service on the Novato City Council, sitting Supervisor Cynthia Murray approached Judy to run for the seat she was vacating on the Marin County Board of Supervisors. Judy won that election and began her “dream job” in 2006.
Judy served the people of Marin for 16 years as Supervisor of the 5th District where she worked on countless issues serving her constituents, including establishing the Marin Dial-A-Ride program, which provided curb-to-curb ride services for those in need, serving on the board of the Golden Gate Bridge District for 11 years, and establishing the Marin Economic Forum (a public/private partnership to provide a stronger focus on the health and future of Marin businesses).
There are two significant professional accomplishments that Judy is particularly proud of.
The first is her role in bringing in the SMART train to Marin and Sonoma. Initially, Judy was against the train because it focused on freight carriage that would go right through the district Judy represented. She could tell SMART was struggling. She asked Farhad Mansourian, then the head of Marin County Public Works, to identify issues, and he saw that there was a lack of focus and disorganization. Judy was instrumental in hiring Farhad as the head of SMART, and together, they brought in the train that is now essential for Marin and Sonoma with record ridership.
The second accomplishment was gaining approvals to establish more affordable housing to be compliant with the state mandated housing element. Every eight years, counties across the state must show the progress they are making to establish more affordable housing. Year over year, Marin County’s numbers were not changing much. It was becoming increasingly likely that Marin would lose state funding due to non-compliance, which would incur penalty fees and eliminate authority in determining how housing was to be implemented. Judy worked hard to gain the board approval to complete the state mandate. In her second to last Board meeting, Judy said, “I believe we must complete this , even when it hurts us, because it is the right thing to do. We are the ones being called on NOW.” When the vote was called, the Board of Supervisors voted five to zero in favor.
Judy wishes to thank her family: Gray Ainsworth, Erin Fish and John Mark Arnold. “You have grown up better than I could have dreamed;” Laura and Brayden, Gray’s wife and daughter, Erin’s husband Eric and children Lauren, Julia and Ainsworth. They are examples that it is great to get married and have children and grandchildren.
When Judy was elected Supervisor, she had two Aids that stayed with her the whole time from the first months of learning the ropes until her last day, Tanya Albert and Leslie Webber. They learned everything about the County and are loved by the staff. They now work for Judy’s successor, her favorite Supervisor, Eric Lucan.
When Judy was working for Gary Giacomini, she met a woman who was working in that campaign with her. They became great friends through several campaigns, and she ending up running all Judy’s successful campaigns. “Thank you, Margie Goodman. I love you.”
Judy’s lifetime of public service has been rooted in all of her influences, including friends, co-workers and especially those she served, the people of Marin County. She hopes young girls can find a similar passion in public service and, if Judy’s accomplishments can serve as inspiration, she is honored to help guide the way.
