(Camelback Mountain) changed color ... The minute I walked in the house coming home from work, I would sit down and look out and peace would settle on me.”

Sandra Day O’Connor

Sandra Day O’Connor, the first woman on the United States Supreme Court, died Friday, Dec. 1 at age 93. A native of Arizona, she is remembered throughout the state as an icon and trailblazer. The Town of Paradise Valley remembers her as a neighbor.

“Justice O’Connor was a force of nature. Volumes have and will continue to be written about her work, but many in Paradise Valley will remember her as a neighbor, a savvy bridge player and a friend,” stated the Town Manager’s Weekly Update.

The granddaughter of a rancher who settled in Arizona more than 100 years ago, she had an authentic southwestern upbringing, hunting small game with a rifle, driving her father’s car long before she had a license, and riding a bus 32 miles to school, according to the town newsletter.

O’Connor and her husband John settled on the outskirts of Phoenix, in what would eventually become Paradise Valley.

In a discussion with former Paradise Valley Mayor Joan Horne that was published in 1997, O’Connor recounted the views from her home:

“I had in mind that it would be nice to have an adobe house in what later became Paradise Valley. It was very much a Western area at that time. We found a young architect who was working in Scottsdale. He came up with a design for using the sun-dried adobe. We were able to locate a pit in the Salt River bed in Tempe that had the right mix of clay, silt, sand and straw to make some good adobe. So, we decided to proceed with the design of this house. At the same time, it was very modern in its design, with an eight-foot overhang and a big, pitched wood roof, with a lot of open beams and wood inside, a lot of glass all looking out at Camelback Mountain.

“It was quite a nice design that we liked a lot. It was a little unusual. The kitchen faced east and I could see the Praying Monk. The mountain changed color. In the morning, it was gorgeous when the sun was coming up, and in the evening, it would turn pink, mauve and purple. The minute I walked in the house coming home from work, I would sit down and look out and peace would settle on me. It was the most peaceful, beautiful site. I would catch my breath just sitting and looking out that window. The people to the west were screened off because the house looked to the east. We had olive trees and citrus trees.”

Eventually, this home was slated for demolition, but the house was relocated and preserved. Following the Justice’s retirement from the Supreme Court, it became the Sandra Day O’Connor Institute for American Democracy in Papago Park, the town newsletter wrote.