Every year, past presidents select an individual to represent the community, based on current and long term community service involvement. Gant best personifies that image of dedication and service, Della Valle said.
“Mary is just wonderful, and definitely deserving of this honor,” Della Valle said. “She is everywhere. She knows everybody and will go anywhere. And she’s always there without any sense of rush or stress. Mary is definitely the person I want to be when I grow up.”
Gant and her husband, Daryal, who retired from JPL as director of business affairs, have lived in the community since 1963. They have two daughters, Brenda and Tracey. Brenda earned a bachelor’s degree from UCLA and a master’s in business administration from the American Graduate School of International Management. Brenda and son Omar, 14, and daughter Summer, 19, live with the Gant family in La Crescenta. She has two other children who live in Saudi Arabia with their father. Tracey graduated from the University of California at Berkeley and earned a doctorate in cell biology from John Hopkins University. Tracey and her husband, Bryan Van Vliet have two sons, Alexander and Zachary and live in Mill Valley.
Mary Gant was born in Bensley’s Village, about 10 miles south of Richmond, Va. She has two sisters and one brother. After graduating from St. Gertrude High School in Richmond, she worked a clerk typist at the U.S. Army Quartermaster Depot in Richmond. That’s where she met and fell in love with 2nd Lt. Daryal Gant, of Dinuba, Calif. The couple married three months later.
Gant continued her education through business and art college coursework.
