I had been mayor for about a month when the voice of the manager of public works echoed through the hall outside my office early one morning.

“The trouble with girls is that they don’t know their place around here,” Mac Crossman was telling the women in finance. They knew he was kidding and, by then, so did I.

“Tell Mr. Crossman to step here when he goes by,” I told my assistant, Doris Neufeld.

A couple of minutes later Mac was standing in front of me, a little uneasily I thought with satisfaction. Clearly, he wasn’t that used to dealing with girl mayors.

“Mac, this girl knows her place around here,” I told him.

It was the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

Mac died a few weeks ago, and while I haven’t seen a lot of him recently — just the odd........

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