Women - Hunterdon County, New Jersey

MILDRED PREEN MORTIMER
Mildred Preen Mortimer was a woman of many
"firsts." She was born in Newark in 1919, and after
graduating from Newark's West Side High School
became the first woman to receive a B.S. in Electrical
Engineering from Newark College of Engineering.
She then earned an M.A. in Public Law and
Government from Columbia University. Her thesis
was A Statistical Occupation: Engineer.
She was subsequently employed by Western
Electric Co., Newark College of Engineering, and her
father's company, Preen Crushed Stone Co., of
Tewksbury Township. Residents recall seeing her
operate heavy road equipment while paving Route
517.
In 1941, at the age of 22, she was elected as a
Democrat to the New Jersey Assembly as the representative for Hunterdon County,
becoming the youngest person ever elected to that position. That record still stands.
She was re-elected for two more one-year terms, but left in 1945 to join the Waves.
On her return to civilian life in 1948, she unsuccessfully ran for the State Senate
against the incumbent Republican Sen. Sam Bodine, of Flemington. In a solid
Republican year, the election was marred by accusations of "mud slinging" by both
candidates.
In 1970 Mrs. Mortimer became the first woman -- and one of the few Democrats --
elected to the Tewksbury Township Committee, serving as police commissioner during
her three-year term. The Board of Chosen Freeholders appointed her in 1977 as the
first county administrator, a post she held until her death in January 1979.
She was a licensed private pilot, having successfully completed both Primary and
Secondary Civil Pilot Training Programs. Among her memberships were the American
lnstitute of Electrical Engineers, the Hunterdon County Board of Agriculture, the
Engineering Woman's Club and the National Aeronautic Association.
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