Buena Park’s First City Clerk Dies

Buena Park’s first city clerk, Marguerite G. Courson, who served nearly 30 years in the position before retiring in 1985, died Monday. Mrs. Courson, who lived in La Mirada, was 79.

She began her work with the city on May 18, 1954, as secretary to the city manager. She was appointed on May 15, 1956, to serve as the city’s first full-time city clerk.

Councilman Don R. Griffin, a longtime friend of Mrs. Courson, said at the close of Monday’s City Council meeting--adjourned in her memory--that she was an “exemplary person” and a true professional.

Griffin, who knew Mrs. Courson for more than 30 years, also described her as a “lovable” person and a “deep friend of the community who will be missed a great deal.”

When she retired, the City Council honored her by naming the building where she had worked after her. The building houses the offices of the mayor, City Council and city clerk and the council chambers.

Born and raised on the former McNally Ranch, which now is part of La Mirada, she married Walter Courson in 1942.

Mrs. Courson’s sister and only surviving relative, Daphne Meiers of La Mirada, said she had suffered breast cancer the past eight years and then contracted bone cancer.

A service is planned for this morning at 10 a.m. at Rose Hills Mortuary Chapel, 3900 S. Workman Mill Road, Whittier.