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50 Years: The Department of Boating and Waterways, 1957 to 2007
“Boaters throughout the state began to look at the department as an
ally,” says Marty, “and I was very happy to be part of that attitude
change.” In the late 1970s, when she was asked to be the reviewing
officer for the Alameda Naval Station graduation ceremony, Marty
knew she had arrived.
Since her retirement in 1982, Marty has been involved with
establishing the “New Partnership Foundation,” a nonprofit
organization that provides assistance to poor families in Baja, Mexico.
Marty has been president of the group and now serves as chairman,
working hands-on to collect desperately needed food, clothing, shoes,
medical supplies, and educational materials from contributors. She
also travels frequently to Mexico to distribute the items to those
in need. She and her husband and two children have long enjoyed
boating in their 14-foot runabout for family recreation time.
Marty still believes that Cal Boating’s most important role centers
on boaters and boating education. “As more and more people get
interested in water sports and California’s waterways become more
and more congested,” she says, “we need to be sure that people
understand the right of way on the water, so training is really critical.”
Marty takes great satisfaction from the work she did to strengthen the
department and show boaters throughout California that Cal Boating
was really a state agency for them. She is also pleased that she could
bring more prominence to California boating at the national level and
serve as a role model for women in government service. “I was proud
to represent women and Latinas and to travel to places where minority
women were not expected to go,” says Marty.
Through 2007, Cal Boating
has provided $3.529
million in grants to local
agencies for removal of 649
abandoned vessels and
navigational hazards from
state waterways.
Cal Boating offers opportunity
during National Safe Boating
Week for the public to have
used life jackets inspected and
trade unserviceable life jackets
for new, fully functional ones.
1999
Cal Boating works with state Assembly
member Denise Ducheny to pass Public
Beach Restoration Act (AB 64), which allows
department to provide coastal beach and
sand renourishment projects to address
continued loss of public beaches due to
intense coastal and inland development
during past century.