Valerie Masson Gomez: 1925–2016

Valerie Masson Gomez was born in Dunsmuir, Calif., near Mt. Shasta, on April 15, 1925. Her family ran a popular resort in the area, built by their Scottish ancestors. With a passion for hiking the mountains and a drive to excel, Gomez became the first female student body president in her high school. After graduation, during WWII, she inspected railroad tracks for the Southern Pacific Railroad before attending UC Berkeley, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in Spanish.

Inspired by her studies, Gomez moved to Mexico City to work for the American Embassy. It was there she met her husband, Angel Gomez Gil. Three of their four children—Angel, Marcelle, and Valerie—were born in Mexico City.  The family subsequently moved to Dunsmuir where the fourth child, Peter ’86, was born in nearby McCloud.

After the family moved to Oakland in 1961, Gomez continued her studies, earning a master’s degree and a doctorate in Romance Languages and Literature at UC Berkeley.

In 1968 Gomez began her career at Saint Mary’s, teaching Spanish as an assistant professor, when the student body was still all male. Intelligent, driven and with an extraordinary work ethic, tempered by humor, sensitivity and a love for opera, Gomez gradually transitioned from teaching to administration, devoting endless energy to support the goals and missions of the College. She tackled difficult administrative tasks during a time of great transition for the school, working on accreditation issues, authoring the Faculty Handbook, revising the College catalog, and helping to implement changes to further the development and expansion of the College.

“Valerie Gomez was an extraordinarily loyal, gracious and dedicated writer, thinker, organizer and producer of critical College publications,” says Brother Mel Anderson, president of Saint Mary’s from 1969 to 1997, who notes, as do others, that it took several people to fill her shoes when she retired.

Theatre Professor Frank Murray, who inherited managing the Faculty Handbook later on, remembers her as “my model for conscientiousness, thoroughness, and command of the material when dealing with Handbook issues. Nothing was too small for her eagle eye to catch and correct.”

Gomez also was known for working long hours, often late in the evening. “I cannot count the number of times I walked the Arcade after 6 p.m. or later and found Valerie still hard at work in her office,” Murray says. “She was indefatigable.”

Nevertheless, the busy professor and administrator made time for students. “Valerie was a mentor to me as a student. She inspired my love for Spanish linguistics. My text on phonetics is dedicated to her,” says Frances Sweeney ’86, professor and chair of the Department of World Languages and Cultures, who notes that Gomez was probably best known for her campus leadership and administration. “I do not think there has ever been anyone more dedicated, hard working and punctilious.”

Gomez also served as a mentor to young faculty. “I will always cherish Valerie's genuineness and willingness to help a junior faculty member (me) learn to navigate the intricacies of academic administration so that I could one day take on the role of dean for academic development (formerly dean for academic services) that she pioneered,” says Murray. “She could be a formidable presence, but to me she was always kind and considerate.”

"Valerie Gomez was an extraordinary colleague whose love of Saint Mary's College was without measure," says William J. Hynes, who served as academic vice president at SMC from 1990 to 2000, and is now president of Holy Names University in Oakland. "Wedded to accuracy and precision in all things, particularly matters of substance and consequence, especially if it was to represent SMC, she had an exquisite sense of procedure, a keen sense of clarity, and a fine editorial eye."

Gomez's position in the College helped her to become closely acquainted with nearly every person, office and department of the school, her family says. Indeed, she was a pillar of the SMC community, says Carole Swain, vice president for the Office of Mission. “I think of her as one of the first women administrators. She was entrusted with a lot of responsibility, preceding all our women deans.”

Gomez is also remembered fondly for her sense of humor.  “I came to appreciate how her gentility was so wonderfully balanced by a quick and wicked wit,” Hynes says. “She was a match for the best at SMC, which is saying a lot!"

She was a wonderful person, adds Jerry Brunetti, KSOE professor of education. “I had great fun kidding her over the years (and she me). How sad to see her go."

Gomez retired at age 77 in 2002, after 34 years at Saint Mary’s, and then devoted herself to researching and writing about her family’s colorful Scottish ancestors, particularly Ross McCloud and Mary Campbell McCloud, 19th-century pioneers who played a notable role in early Northern California history.

Gomez never lost her love for hiking and began every day with a brisk four-mile walk before going to work. And on Sundays she found long trails to hike or mountains to climb. Well into her early 70s, she especially enjoyed the Dipsea Trail in Marin, and Mt. Diablo and Mt. Tamalpais, parking at the base of each mountain and taking all day to hike to the top and back down, says her daughter, Valerie Gomez Lienau.

“My mother loved her family, loved her research, loved opera and a good joke, but in large measure gave her life to Saint Mary's College.”

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A Memorial Mass for Valerie Gomez is planned for Thursday, September 15, at 3:30 p.m. in the Saint Mary's College Chapel. All are invited to the Mass and to a reception in Claeys Lounge in the Soda Center at 5 p.m.