GOODYEAR, Ariz. — Georgia Lord was old school. She was classy, always perfect in public. Never one to be seen without looking her best.
“She always made sure I had my lipstick and the right color purse and shoes,” Goodyear City council member Wally Campbell said during a city memorial Monday.
“Georgia was always dressed to the hilt, never a hair out of place,” councilmember Joe Pizzillo said.
But there was more to Lord than that.
She was the daughter of a woman who went into politics late. Her mother became a Michigan State Representative. Lord, herself, went into politics later in life. She first won a city council seat in 2005, then took the mayor’s seat in 2011 when her predecessor resigned. She won the election in 2013.
For the first half of her life, she was an Air Force wife, serving with her husband, retired Col. Ron Lord, overseas during the Cold War. They were stationed in Germany.
Ron Lord died in 2020. Earlier this year, Lord suffered a fall at home and never recovered. She died over the weekend at home in Goodyear.
“She was a great mentor as well and really committed to the city,” Vice Mayor Brannon Hampton said with his voice breaking.
The photos of Georgia Lord during Monday’s event showed a mayor who had plans for Goodyear.
Her biggest achievement would have been a new civic center, which is currently under construction. She died before it could be finished.
There are photos of Lord at the grand opening of the Goodyear Recreation Center. It's the same place where the city held her memorial today.
Flags are flying at half-staff across Arizona in her honor.
But the real honor, her family says, is that Georgia Lord was able to make her mark for herself, her family, and for women who will follow in her footsteps.
“Her piece of advice for all of us,” her daughter Cassandra Lord said, “was lipstick on, head up, chest out, walk out and own that room.”
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