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HAYWARD — Gail Steele stood just 5 feet 3 inches tall, but her unwavering advocacy for children and those most vulnerable in the community made her a towering figure in East Bay politics.
The former Hayward city councilwoman and longtime member of the Alameda County Board of Supervisors died Friday at home with her family near her side. She was 83.
“It’s a really big loss for our community,” Hayward Mayor Barbara Halliday said. “She dedicated decades to this city. I never met anyone who cared more, and especially for the children.”
As a supervisor, Steele represented Hayward, Newark and Union City, as well as parts of Fremont and unincorporated Sunol.
She served from 1992 to 2010 — some 18 years — and relentlessly campaigned for improved mental health services, juvenile justice reform and more access to health care for the county’s residents, especially the poor.
Before serving on the board, Steele was on the Hayward City Council for seven years.
In March 2012, county officials opened the Gail Steele Wellness and Recovery Center, named after Steele in recognition of her years of public service.
The center on Jackson Street in Hayward provides behavioral health programs and is part of Alameda County’s Health Care Services and Behavioral Health Care Services agencies.
Steele likely will be most remembered for her work to memorialize children whose lives have been cut short by violence, first by her spearheading a grove of trees in Castro Valley and then the installation of a statue outside Hayward City Hall.
Her efforts began following the slaying of a 14-year-old Castro Valley girl, Jenny Lin, in 1994, when Steele started joining parents, family and friends of victims for an annual remembrance.
“I realized how many children were dying and we weren’t paying attention,” she said in April 2014, shortly before the Hayward statue was dedicated. “We’re talking close to 5,000 kids a year dying from violence in this country, but you find very few people talking about this national tragedy.”
About two years later an identical statue was installed at Lake Merritt in Oakland as a result of Steele’s efforts.
A clip on YouTube records Steele saying she had cookies in her car for those attending the Oakland dedication.
While Steele was then no longer a county supervisor, the board agreed she could use money she had accumulated in her discretionary account as a supervisor to pay for the statues.
“Hayward has lost a legend,” Hayward Councilwoman Sara Lamnin said. “Gail Steele fought for our children. Made sure we never forgot those lost to violence. Advocated for all health services. Empowered community collaboration and much more. She loved her family and was a friend and mentor to so many of us. I will miss her insights, her humor and her fierce passion for the quality of life for all in our community. May her memory be for a blessing.”
Born in Chicago, Steele grew up in rural Guerneville in the Russian River Valley of Sonoma County, where her parents turned a farm into an artist colony, inviting potters and others to come and work, according to her daughter, Jane Steele.
She married Jack Steele in December 1959 — a high school teacher whom she met through a mutual friend — and afterward was a homemaker who focused on her family and raising her children.
Steele earned a bachelor’s degree from UC Berkeley a year before her marriage. But after serving on the Hayward council, she got a master’s degree from UC San Francisco in 1985 in public administration.
Her interest in public service, however, began much earlier.
In the early 1970s, she joined the League of Women Voters and her life changed.
Her involvement with the organization gave her an insight into local politics, what people cared about, and she got to know local elected officials. It inspired her to run for office.
“I remember as a kid people were always around the house and they were always talking politics,” Jane Steele said.
In 1974, Steele ran for the Hayward City Council and won by just 32 votes, her daughter said.
“I think there was actually a recount,” Jane Steele said. “But she was a fighter. The next time she ran, she won by a landslide.”
Steele would stay in office until 1981 and was just the third woman to serve on the Hayward council.
The others were Ruth Rogers, who served from 1922 to 1930, and Ilene Weinrub, who was on the council from 1968 to 1973 and who was mayor from 1974 to 1981, according to the Hayward Area Historical Society.
“When I first started working with her, it was her steel will that I noticed first, and it was surprising, coming from a petite woman,” Councilman Francisco Zermeno said. “There are many remarkable accomplishments in her successful work in our community, one that she won over with her gentle smile and unassuming personality.”
Halliday noted that Steele’s achievements included helping launch in 1977 the Hayward Volunteer Recognition and Awards Dinner, which honors people who have made outstanding contributions to local human services, nonprofits and other programs.
The annual event at St. Rose Hospital on Calaroga Avenue attracts hundreds of people.
“That’s another great legacy to this city,” the mayor said.
Hayward officials lowered the national flag outside City Hall to half-mast after Steele’s death.
Halliday said she hopes to create a permanent memorial to Steele and to other women who have made a lasting contribution to the city, especially since this year marks the 100th anniversary of women securing the right-to-vote in the United States.
“My wife Barbara and I spent a memorable weekend trip with Gail to Yosemite National Park, and it was one of my fondest memories,” Supervisor Richard Valle, who now represents the district that Steele once did, posted on Facebook. “We had good walks, food and conversation together, and it was special for all of us.”
Valle added that Steele “left a tremendous legacy to our shared community.”
Steele’s survivors include her daughter, Jane, and sons Tim, Todd and Sasha, as well as six grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.
The family is arranging a memorial service.