Joyce Dusenberry, active in politics, conservationism, dies

Longtime community activist Joyce Dusenberry died July 20. She was 98.

Dusenberry was born Jan. 4, 1908 in Delta, Colo. Her family moved to California when she was a youngster, settling in Los Angeles.

She married her husband, Arthur, in 1933. Their only child, Craig, was born in 1942 in Los Angeles.

The couple moved to Laguna Beach when their son was three.

Dusenberry served as a plane spotter at Arch Beach Heights during World War II along with the late Bea Whittlesey, searching the skies for enemy aircraft.

Whittlesey and Dusenberry also worked together to spearhead the drive for trash cans on city beaches.

She was a mentor for many of the city’s political leaders.

“She got me started in community and political activism,” former Mayor Phyllis Sweeney said. “It was really a small town when we moved here in the early 1960s, and she took me under her wing.

“Back then, we had political leaders who wanted to develop the beach across from Edwards Theater, and we had to fight high rises. We did accomplish a heck of a lot.

“Joyce was a hard worker and dedicated much of her time to the public good.”

Dusenberry was active in the Laguna Beach Democratic Club and served 10 years on the county Democratic Central Committee.

“Arnold and I met Joyce within a couple of weeks after we moved to Laguna Beach,” Bonnie Hano said. “When we got here, the only Democratic Club was the Women’s Democratic Club, which we joined to meet people. Both of us remember her currant tarts; they were absolutely exquisite.”

Besides Dusenberry, the club membership included the late Nita Carmen, for whom a city park is named.

“I was quite a bit younger than the other members,” Hano said.

She was among the “Golden Girls” who hosted the 1960 Democratic Convention held in Los Angeles, chosen by Dusenberry, who had been asked to organize the group by actress Goldie Hawn.

“Joyce was regal and she stayed beautiful,” Hano said. “I don’t recall her ever raising her voice. She was active and faithful to the causes she believed in.”

Among her papers are several versions of proposed by-laws for Village Laguna. Her name is also listed on a document dated November 1976 as the representative on the Village Neighborhood Committee for Woods Cove and Lower Bluebird Canyon.

Dusenberry was a member of the Laguna Beach unit of the League of Women Voters and the Laguna Canyon Conservancy, which honored her as a “Laguna Treasure” in 2001.

“She was a great person and active in the conservancy until about a year ago, when her health failed,” conservancy President Carolyn Wood said.

Dusenberry and her husband helped ensure a permanent home for the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship in Laguna Beach.

“The church used to meet in various places like the Old Brussels building or the one later occupied by [dance teacher] Lila Zali,” Craig Dusenberry said. “Eventually, somebody found the house on Cypress.”

The Dusenberrys were among the handful of people who guaranteed the mortgage payments.

Dusenberry kept records of all the groups to which she belonged or contributed. The notebook for 2001 lists 35-40 groups to which she paid dues, her son said.

Memorial donations in her name may be made to Friends of the Hortense Miller Garden, Sally’s Fund, Laguna Canyon Conservancy, the fellowship or Village Laguna.

Dusenberry is survived by her son and his life partner, Sandi Cain.

A memorial service will be held at the fellowship in late September, time and date to be announced.