Hump Day History
March is Women's History Month, so I wanted to take a moment to look back on a woman I was lucky enough to meet.
Maya Miller came to Washoe County in 1945. She briefly taught English at the University of Nevada, Reno before having children.
In the 1960's she and her husband founded the Foresta Institute for Ocean and Mountain Studies. In 1961, they purchased the historic Washoe Pines property in Washoe Valley. There they ran an environmental summer camp.
Throughout the 1960's Maya fought for a bi-state park at Sand Harbor in Lake Tahoe to protect and ensure public access to the area. The park was established in 1971.
During the 60's Maya also fought alongside the Paiute Tribe to reclaim their water rights and save Pyramid Lake.
Throughout the 70's and 80's she was involved in welfare rights. In 1973, legislators met with the welfare group and had lunch brought in for themselves. This became known as "The Hamburger Incident." They ate their lunch and then offered the leftovers to the welfare recipients. Once they left, Maya began cleaning up the trash and then threw it on the floor. She was later faced with an ultimatum to either apologize or be banned...
"I am sorry for the litter, but I cannot tell you I am sorry for my impatience or my sense of outrage at the violence Nevada does daily to its poor children. As I sat in the lounge on Friday watching men eat and talk while women listened and watched, I was overwhelmed by the sense of those poor women's patience."
In 1974, Miller ran for Senate - she received 38% of the votes, but lost to Harry Reid.
After the election, she and her daughter went to Germantown, Maryland to testify against the storage of nuclear waste. In Washignton D.C. she helped start the Women's Campaign Fund, which sponsors female candidates running for office. She personally helped fund dozens of campaigns for Nevada women.
Maya was named Distinguished Nevadan in 1981.
In 1991 Maya joined members of Madre, an international women's rights group, and broke an embargo to deliver infant formula and medical supplies to Iraqi women and children during the Persian Gulf War.
**I got married on her Washoe Pines property. It was split between her daughter and her son, who unfortunately passed away. He was my best friend's stepdad, and her mom now lives on his part of the property. There is a cabin that bears the name Foresta.
**Maya's husband was an ichthyologist - and her son became a brewer with Great Basin Brewing Company. He helped develop their famous Ichthyosaur Pale Ale, named after the fossil found in the heart of the state.
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