Living Well 60+ September-October 2014

1 0 SEPT/OCT 2 0 1 4
Person of Interest
Teresa Isaac Has
‘Lots of Energy’
Serving on boards, teaching, mulling
another run for office keeps former
mayor busy
by Martha Evans
Sparks,
Staff Writer
Teresa Ann
Isaac was mayor of
Lexington from 2002-2006. The
second woman to serve in that
office – the first was Pam Miller –
she has not rested on her laurels
since her tenure ended.
In 2013, she was in the Middle
East’s West Bank, where she completed
her most recent sessions of
training mayors from around the
world for the U.S. Department of
State. In the years between 2007
and the present, she has taught
mayors of cities in Namibia,
Pakistan and Uganda. She meets
with anywhere from 50 to 300
mayors, teaching them about
social justice, economic development,
infrastructure, establishing
trust with their constituents and
youth empowerment. She tries
to help them find ways to use the
resources they have at their local
level. Each country usually has an
agenda about two weeks long. In
2004 and 2005, the State Department
sent her to train mayors in
Argentina and Chile as part of a
democracy project.
Isaac is a native of Harlan
County. Her father, Sam Isaac, was
mayor of Cumberland, Ky. After
he finished his stint as mayor,
the family moved to Lexington.
Isaac graduated from Transylvania
University in 1976 and from the
University of Kentucky College
of Law in 1979. In a remarkable
display of self-confidence, she
opened a solo law practice in Lexington
right out of law school.
“It worked out great,” she said.
“I loved it.”
In 1988, she was elected to the
Lexington-Fayette Urban County
Government as an at-large member.
In 1992, she was reelected to
the Urban County Council and
became vice mayor, serving in
that capacity from 1993-1999,
still the record for longest-serving
vice mayor. She practiced law for
20 years until 1999, when she
became executive director of the
Lexington Fair Housing Council.
Following her time as mayor,
she returned to the Fair Housing
Council and was promoted to
board chair of the organization
in 2007, a position she still holds.
She lost her bid for a second term
as mayor to Lexington attorney
Jim Newberry in 2006.
Undaunted, Isaac was employed
in May 2007 as a campaign staffer
for Kentucky businessman Bruce
Lunsford, who was bidding for the
Democratic nomination as Kentucky
governor. While she was involved
in that effort, Isaac taught a
course at Transylvania called “The
Governor’s Race: See How They
Run.” Through the years, her alma
mater has honored her twice, with
an Outstanding Alumni award
and Transylvania’s Service Award.
She has served on the university’s
alumni board.
“I’ve been on a million boards,”
she said. She currently chairs
the Volunteers of America board
in Lexington; she is also on the
board of Emerge Kentucky, which
trains women to run for political
office. She has taught as an adjunct
professor at several Kentucky
colleges.
In the past six months, family
affairs have taken precedence.
Both her children married in one
month. Her daughter, Alicyn
Isaac-Lowry, is a graduate of
Columbia University College of
Law and is with New York City
law firm Davis Polk. Isaac’s son,
Jacob Isaac-Lowry, lives and works
in Hawaii. He earned a degree
in mechanical engineering from
the University of Michigan Ann
Arbor.
“I’m at a crossroads, watching
both of my kids marry. I feel it is
a real accomplishment. I am very
proud of both of my kids,” said
Isaac.
Would she consider running
for political office again? “I always
have in the back of my mind running
for office again. That is a real
possibility,” she said. “I always
want to encourage more young
women to run for office.”
Can she do all of this? “Oh, yes,”
she said. “I have lots of energy.”
“I always want to encourage more
young women to run for office.”
—Teresa Isaac