Retirement Greets Capitol Receptionist : Statehouse: After dealing with protests and visiting dignitaries in the lobby outside the governor’s suite, Jackie Habecker Grunwald is turning the final page in her appointment book.

SACRAMENTO —  As a member of seven governors’ staffs dating to Earl Warren in 1945, Jackie Habecker Grunwald has seen it all: A two-month sit-in by anti-nuclear demonstrators, angry occupations by welfare rights activists, protest fires set by Black Panthers, and the regal arrival of Queen Elizabeth.

But no more. Grunwald, 65, the governor’s receptionist, who cordially welcomes visiting dignitaries and just as graciously suffers platoons of protesters, retires today.

Although Grunwald has worked at the apex of power in California for almost 46 years, hers is hardly a household name. Seated behind an imposing desk, she is the first person thousands of tourists, celebrities and others see as they enter off a Capitol corridor into the outer lobby of the governor’s suite.

Visitors expecting to find the chief executive of the nation’s most populous state busy at work instead encounter a sincere welcome in the effortless manner of a friend extending an invitation to dinner.

“Please come in and feel free to look around,” Grunwald tells people. She invites them to examine the small lobby area, where she alone controls the electronically locked doors leading to the office’s private chambers.

Whether it is an influential delegation of business executives, movie stars, powerful political figures or a pensioner with a grievance, an emotionally disturbed individual demanding a meeting with the governor or a tour of bubbly schoolgirls from Japan, Grunwald treats them with the same respect and courtesy.

“You just have to genuinely like people, care about them and listen to their problems,” Grunwald said of the temperament necessary to be a governor’s receptionist and the first line of public relations.

A lifelong Democrat, Grunwald said she never switched her party affiliation to reflect that of her boss. “I didn’t ever want a governor to think I changed my registration to keep my job. I can be loyal and trustworthy regardless of party affiliation,” she said in an interview.

In 1945, when government was less complicated, Grunwald landed her first state job as a clerk-typist for Warren in an office occupied by 25 or 30 people--a contrast with the 80 who occupy the inner offices today. She remembers Warren, a Republican then serving the first of three terms, as affable and concerned about employee welfare.

Democratic Gov. Edmund G. (Pat) Brown plucked Grunwald from behind a typewriter in 1959 and made her his assistant receptionist. Three years later, he promoted her to permanent receptionist.

In the 1940s, ‘50s and early ‘60s, nobody worried much about security. Warren walked several blocks from the governor’s mansion to the Capitol each day. Brown would stroll alone to a nearby restaurant for lunch with friends. His office doors had no electronic locks.

But the simpler times were to change. In 1965, Grunwald said, Brown encountered a “small demonstration” in his office, the first of many larger ones to come.

Occupying the governor’s office became a preoccupation shortly after Republican Ronald Reagan took office in 1967--by Black Panthers, anti-war demonstrators, anti-tuition college students and welfare rights activists, among others.

Electronic locks were installed during Reagan’s first term, shielding the governor’s private offices from uninvited visitors. Security remains a major priority today. But Grunwald’s outer office is protected by no such devices.

She said the only time she felt concerned for the safety of the office was in the late 1960s, when shouting Black Panther Party members overwhelmed a demonstration by poor people.

As some touched off fires in gubernatorial ashtrays, others swarmed over her desk. “I was sort of trapped. One of them sat down in my chair (while she stood aside), but I wouldn’t argue with him,” she said.

On one occasion during Gov. Edmund G. (Jerry) Brown Jr.’s Administration, anti-nuclear demonstrators occupied the office lobby day and night for a record eight weeks. A group of former mental patients settled in for a month.

“I lived with them,” Grunwald recalled of the overnighters. “I came into work about 7:30 a.m. and often didn’t leave until 10 p.m. I really got acquainted with them.”

Later, about a dozen physicians’ wives staged a one-night camp-in, complete with designer sleeping bags. At supper time, they temporarily abandoned their camp and dined at one of Sacramento’s priciest restaurants. Some complained about the Spartan Capitol lavatories.

As for her favorite governor, Grunwald--looking forward to traveling and starting an antique business--won’t tell. “I’ve never revealed that even to my family and I doubt that I ever will,” she said. “They all have been good to me.”