My name is Mary McKenna and I am running for City of Orange city council District 4.  I love Orange, Texas. I have been blessed by this community and I want to give back and serve this city.  I was not born in Orange, but I got here as fast as I could. I did grow up in Orange attending movies at the Strand Theater downtown, riding my bicycle all over town, and roller skating at the Thomen Center and then heading across the parking lot to the library.

I have had the privilege of serving a lifetime in this community including Leadership Southeast Texas, Chairing the Housing Authority Board when the housing was remodeled, and serving on the Lutcher Theater Board.  My service on past boards includes Chamber of Commerce, United Way of Orange County, Memorial Hermann Orange Hospital Advisory Board, Baptist Hospital Foundation Board, March of Dimes, American Cancer Society, and American Heart Association.  Currently, I serve the City of Orange Planning and Zoning Commission.

Times are different now.  But Orange is still a wonderful place to live.  Tree-lined streets border century-old historic homes.  The boat ramp is a gateway to fishing, swimming, water skiing, and boat riding.  Events every year include July 4th fireworks and parades for Christmas, Mardi Gras and Martin Luther King Day.  Annually there is Art in the Park and in the spring Bass Master Fishing tournaments. Other local attractions include The Lutcher Theater, Shangri La Botanical gardens, and world-class museums.  We truly have something for everyone.

After graduating from high school, much like all my classmates, I could not wait to get out of town.  I lived in Dallas and Houston, earning my Bachelor of Science from the University of Houston and my masters from the University of Texas Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences in the Houston Medical Center in the field of Neuropsychopharmacology.   After graduating from UT, I came home as fast as I could to help start the first Texas Hospice, Southeast Texas Hospice.

Throughout my career, people have offered me jobs all over the country.  They cannot imagine why I stay in southeast Texas. My response to them is that the most wonderful people in the world live here.  

Yes, times are different now.  But for these times, for us, for our children, for our grandchildren, together we can make Orange a bigger, better, brighter place.

Vote Mary McKenna, City Council District 4.  God bless.