Latina pioneer Molina battling terminal cancer

LOS ANGELES (CNS) — Gloria Molina, a pioneer Latina politician who served on the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors for more than two decades following terms in the state Assembly and on the LA City Council — and was the first Latina elected to each — announced Tuesday she is battling terminal cancer.

In a Facebook post, the 74-year-old Molina said she has been receiving treatment for three years, but that, “at this point, it is very aggressive.”

“I’ve lived a long, fulfilling and beautiful life,” Molina said in the post, which is addressed to “dearest friends and beloved community.”

“You should know that I’m not sad. I enter this transition in life feeling so fortunate. I have an amazing and caring family, wonderful friends, and worked with committed colleagues and a loyal team.

Throughout my life I’ve had the support of many people.”

Molina, who grew up in Pico Rivera, was active in the early days of the Chicano movement, becoming an advocate for women’s health issues — which she continued into her elected offices. At one point, she founded a Nurse Mentoring Program through local community colleges to address a nurse shortage.

She first won elective office in 1982, winning the 56th Assembly District seat and eventually leading a fight to quash a proposed prison in East LA.

Molina won the City Council’s First District seat in 1987, and was elected to the Board of Supervisors from the county’s First District in 1991. She was the first woman elected to the Board — once known as the “Five Little Kings” — though Yvonne Brathwaite Burke, who was appointed to fill a vacancy, was the first woman to serve on the Board.