Cornelia Olive

Cornelia Olive, now serving her first term as mayor of Sanford, grew up in a home where newspapers and politics played a big part in dinner time discussions.

“I was 12 when I first started handing out brochures for a political campaign,” recalls Olive. “And by the time I was 10, I was expected to have read the daily newspapers -- my father subscribed to two – and talk about what I had read at suppertime. I was encouraged to have opinions and be able to talk about them. Unfortunately, as some would say, I do have opinions about everything. Fortunately, one of the things I’ve been complemented on is the ability to listen to others’ views.”

Olive says that one of her earliest dreams was to write for the Durham Morning Herald. And in the long list of jobs she has held, newspaper reporter and columnist for the Herald is one of them. Olive has also worked as a campaign press secretary for U.S. Congressman Ike Andrews who represented North Carolina’s fourth district and as a press secretary for two North Carolina attorney generals, Robert Morgan and Rufus Edmiston.

“When I went to work for Robert Morgan, he had just started the Consumer Protection Division,” she says. “We had no money, and there is nothing that is a greater challenge than to have no money and to find a voice.”

Producing and sending out tapes to television stations helped increase awareness of the Consumer Protection Division of the North Carolina Attorney General's Office.

“It was not long before the size of the office mushroomed,” says Olive, “because we had gotten the voice out there. Robert Morgan wanted to make sure tax payers got justice.”

Helping others is important to Olive who says that she always has wanted to be a voice for the people.

“In my heart of hearts, I believe that we are our brothers’ keepers,” she says. “We’re a country of such plenty that nobody should be hurting or struggling.”

As a reporter, Olive enjoyed working on exposés, another way to right wrongs.

“One of the things I’m most proud of is writing about what was happening in mental hospitals,” she says. “We had 10 law students from Duke who went undercover and they gave me their diaries about what was happening there. The result of the stories was that it led to the creation of patient advocates".

Raising two children on her own, Olive says that she had two goals, to take care of them and to make sure they had as much opportunity for schooling as possible. To that end, she sees her self as succeeding.

“My oldest son is an independent contractor in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina and my youngest is married and works with his father,” she says.

Olive also mentions that her 91 year old mother married her high school sweetheart two years ago.

“They walk a mile everyday,” she says. “Anyone who questions the golden years should look at them because they are really shining.”

When her children were grown, Olive, who at the time was working for a furniture industry magazine, described herself, in a playful way, as going “insane.”

She quit her job, put all her furniture in storage and moved to Europe for about three months. She spent much of that time visiting museums, strolling through Monet’s gardens and visiting historic sites.

“Though I was alone, I was in good company,” she says. “I spent every cent I had and it was one of the best investments I ever made, except for my children’s education.”

Returning to the Southeast, she edited the Outer Banks-Sentinel and then returned to Lee County. Her family goes back four generations here. She served on the city council and then was elected mayor in 2005.

She sees Sanford as on the edge of tremendous growth, and she is happy to be a part of it.

“The greatest joy I have is being a glorified ombudsman,” she says. “I like to route people to the person who can help them and to make things happen.”