(Picture credit Matt Johnson)
OMAHA — On Thursday evening, former Mayor Jean Stothert officially unveiled a portion of 13th Street that now bears her name in downtown Omaha.
Last month, the Omaha City Council unanimously voted to approve the commemorative street name. Mike Pate, who served with Stothert on the Millard School Board, originally sought the name change and officiated the event Thursday evening.
“Today is about much more than placing a name on a street sign,” Pate said. “It is about recognizing a life of public service and preserving the legacy of someone who has devoted a significant part of her life to making Omaha a better place.”
The ceremony took place in the shadow of the nearly completed new Mutual of Omaha Headquarters Tower, whose construction was spearheaded during Stothert’s tenure.
“Turn around and look at that big, beautiful Mutual tower right behind us,” said former Omaha mayor Hal Daub. “Then think just behind it, towering a little bit above the First National Bank, which was my project. And see, she’s done one higher. Right? That unexpected little extra.”
Along Farnam Street there was visible construction work still being done on the Omaha Streetcar Project—a project championed by Stothert, and one some believe may have cost her the mayor’s office last year.
“I watched her make really hard decisions, because as mayor, clearly you’re not gonna make everyone happy,” said City Councilmember Aimee Melton. “But I watched how Mayor Stothert did that, and what she always said was, ‘I’m gonna put the best interests of this city first. I am going to do what I think is gonna move this city forward, despite the critics, and despite the fact it might cost me my next election.’ And there it is right there across the street.”
Also speaking at the event was Greater Omaha Chamber CEO Heath Mello, who ran against Stothert for mayor in 2017. Mello described his daughter meeting the city’s first woman to hold the mayor’s office and how his daughter asked for an autographed picture of the two of them, which Stothert provided.
“My daughter, like a lot of other daughters across Omaha, have someone to look up to. They’ve got a role model that will live for infamy in the city of Omaha,” Mello said. “She wasn’t just a colleague, she wasn’t just someone I worked with. After three years, I got to call her a friend.”
Congressman Don Bacon, whose district includes the city of Omaha, also spoke.
“Where else would you want to live but the Omaha area?” Bacon said. “And Mayor Stothert made it a great place to live. And so congratulations, Mayor. This is well earned, and we’re proud of you.”
Stothert can now be heard on The KFAB Comment Line, which airs weekday mornings at 10 a.m. Radio host and current programming director for KFAB Scott Voorhees was also on hand to congratulate Stothert on the street naming.
A couple dozen other guests attended the evening event, including city councilmembers Brinker Harding and Don Rowe, Omaha Fire Chief Kathy Bossman, Former Fire Chief Dan Olsen, and Public Works Director Bob Stubbe.
Several members of the Stothert family were also in attendance—Stothert’s husband Kevin O’Rourke as well as Stothert’s son Andrew, daughter Elizabeth, and two grandsons.
— Matt Johnson is a freelance reporter with The Plains Sentinel.