Shirlee Zane is an American politician. She serves as a member of the

Sonoma County Board of Supervisors The Sonoma County Board of Supervisors is a governing body with jurisdiction over Sonoma County, California Sonoma County ( ) is a county located in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 United States census, its population was 488, ...

representing Supervisorial District 3, which includes part of the cities of

Santa Rosa Santa Rosa is the Italian, Portuguese, and Spanish name for Saint Rose. Santa Rosa may also refer to: Places Argentina *Santa Rosa, Mendoza, a city * Santa Rosa, Tinogasta, Catamarca * Santa Rosa, Valle Viejo, Catamarca *Santa Rosa, La Pampa * S ...

and

Rohnert Park Rohnert Park is a city in Sonoma County, California, United States, located approximately north of San Francisco. The population at the 2020 United States census was 44,390. It is an early planned city and is the sister city of Hashimoto in ...

Early life and education

Zane was raised in

Southern California Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and Cultural area, cultural List of regions of California, region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Its densely populated coastal reg ...

. She received her Bachelor of Arts in

speech pathology Speech is the use of the human voice as a medium for language. Spoken language combines vowel and consonant sounds to form units of meaning like words, which belong to a language's lexicon. There are many different intentional speech acts, suc ...

from

Chico State University California State University, Chico (Chico State) is a public university in Chico, California. It was founded in 1887 as one of about 180 " normal schools" founded by state governments in the 19th century to train teachers for the rapidly growin ...

in 1982, a Master of Arts in

family counseling Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...

from

Sonoma State University Sonoma State University (SSU, Sonoma State, or Sonoma) is a public university in Sonoma County, California, United States. It is part of the California State University system. Sonoma State offers 92 bachelor's degree programs, 19 master's de ...

, and a Master of Arts in

divinity Divinity (from Latin ) refers to the quality, presence, or nature of that which is divine—a term that, before the rise of monotheism, evoked a broad and dynamic field of sacred power. In the ancient world, divinity was not limited to a single ...

from

Trinity Evangelical Divinity School Trinity Evangelical Divinity School (TEDS) is the divinity school of Trinity International University, an evangelical Christian university headquartered in Bannockburn, Illinois. The divinity school was founded in 1897. In April 2025, Trinit ...

Career

Before election to the Board of Supervisors, Zane worked as a

family therapist Family therapy (also referred to as family counseling, family systems therapy, marriage and family therapy, couple and family therapy) is a branch of psychotherapy focused on family, families and couples in intimate relationships to nurture chang ...

, minister, hospital chaplain,

special education Special education (also known as special-needs education, aided education, alternative provision, exceptional student education, special ed., SDC, and SPED) is the practice of educating students in a way that accommodates their individual di ...

professional, and social worker. Zane worked in

Caracas Caracas ( , ), officially Santiago de León de Caracas (CCS), is the capital and largest city of Venezuela, and the center of the Metropolitan Region of Caracas (or Greater Caracas). Caracas is located along the Guaire River in the northern p ...

Venezuela Venezuela, officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many Federal Dependencies of Venezuela, islands and islets in the Caribbean Sea. It com ...

, and

inner city The term inner city (also called the hood) has been used, especially in the United States, as a euphemism for majority-minority lower-income residential districts that often refer to rundown neighborhoods, in a downtown or city centre area. Soc ...

settings of Humboldt Park, Chicago and

South Los Angeles South Los Angeles, also known as South Central Los Angeles or simply South Central, is a region in southwestern Los Angeles County, California, lying mostly within the city limits of Los Angeles, south of Downtown Los Angeles, downtown. It is de ...

, before moving to

Sonoma County Sonoma County ( ) is a county located in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 United States census, its population was 488,863. Its seat of government and largest city is Santa Rosa. Sonoma County comprises the Santa Rosa-Petaluma ...

in 1990. She was appointed Executive Director of Hospital Chaplaincy Services in 1994, and later served as CEO of the Council on Aging for ten years. Zane was first elected to the

in the November 2008 election, defeating former

city council A municipal council is the legislative body of a municipality or local government area. Depending on the location and classification of the municipality it may be known as a city council, town council, town board, community council, borough counc ...

woman Sharon Wright with 55% of the vote. She was sworn in on January 6, 2009. She defeated former

man Tim Smith in June 2012 for election to a second term, with 63.2% of the vote. Zane's reelection to a third term in 2016, along with the reelection of Susan Gorin and election of Lynda Hopkins, created a female majority on the board for the first time. She lost reelection to former

mayor

Chris Coursey Chris Coursey (born November 21, 1954) is an American politician and former journalist serving as a member of the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors. Representing District 3, Coursey assumed office in 2021. He previously served as the mayor of S ...

on March 3, 2020, with 46% of the vote. Coursey's win marked the first successful challenge to an incumbent of the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors since 1984.

Personal life

Zane married Greg Herrick, a descendant of Mexican land grantees

Henry D. Fitch Henry Delano Fitch (1799 – 1849), later known by his Spanish language, Spanish name Don Enrique Domingo Fitch, was a Californian trader, ranchero, and politician. Born in Massachusetts, Fitch became a merchant sailor in South America in 1815, ...

and

María Ygnacia López de Carrillo Doña María Ygnacia López de Carrillo (January 31, 1793 – February 28, 1849) was a Californio ranchera. She was the founder of Santa Rosa, California, Santa Rosa. She married into the prominent Carrillo family of California and was the a ...

, in 1982. She gave birth to a son in 1988, who she raised as a

single mother A single parent is a person who has a child or children but does not have a spouse or live-in partner to assist in the upbringing or support of the child. Reasons for becoming a single parent include death, divorce, break-up, abandonment, bec ...

. Her second husband, Peter Kingston, committed suicide in 2011. She spoke out about

social stigma Stigma, originally referring to the visible marking of people considered inferior, has evolved to mean a negative perception or sense of disapproval that a society places on a group or individual based on certain characteristics such as their ...

after his death, saying "we can not prevent suicide if we don’t talk about it." Zane dated the widower Coursey, her 2020 election opponent, from 2011 to 2014. Following the death of Zane's mother in 2014, she adopted Lucy, a therapy horse.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Zane, Shirlee 1959 births Living people Women in California politics County supervisors in California 21st-century California politicians 21st-century American women politicians Date of birth missing (living people)