FAIR OAKS, CA (MPG) - Happy birthday to Fair Oaks Honorary Mayor Penny Howard who turns 100 on May 7! A native Californian, Penny has been a beloved member of the Fair Oaks and Carmichael communities for over half a century and is very active with the Fair Oaks Chamber of Commerce.

As the oldest honorary mayor in the chamber’s 43-year history, Penny is enjoying her second term and all the social activities that come with the title.

In 2006, Penny won Honorary Mayor after raising a whopping $8,244.85 for her church’s Red Wagon Ministries program and for St. John’s Women’s Shelter. Penny was also awarded the chamber’s Citizen of the Year in 2016 and proudly rode in the Fair Oaks Christmas Parade.

In 2020, at 98-years old, Penny decided to run for Honorary Mayor again and won after raising more than $4,376 for Del Campo High School’s Visual and Performing Arts program. Penny chose this school because three of her children had attended Del Campo. She chose the program due to her life-long interest in art. Her only regret about running for Honorary Mayor during the first year of the pandemic was because the chamber wasn’t able to put on events in person like the “old days.”

A passion for adventure

An accomplished artist, writer, and outdoor enthusiast, Penny was influenced by the beauty of the Eastern Sierra at an early age and often wrote about her adventures. Her stories and photographs have been published in the Sacramento Bee, Sierra Heritage, and in many other publications.

Naomi “Penny” Rogers was born in Laws, a small rural community near Bishop where her grandmother was the town’s postmaster. She spent childhood summers fishing, camping, and exploring the Mammoth Lakes area. In the 1920s, her great aunt and great-uncle built Pine Cliff Camp, a rustic mountain resort Penny and her children and grandchildren still visit today.

At 80-years old, Penny even accomplished her life-long dream of climbing the steep and difficult Mammoth Rock where she was hoisted to the top of the rock with only a rope and the help of two of her sons. Shortly after, Penny’s heroic climbing feat was featured in both the Mammoth Times and the Sacramento Bee.

In 1935, the Rogers family moved to San Francisco. Two years later, Penny—along with her sisters and friends—walked across the Golden Gate Bridge the day it opened. In a short story, she wrote how the bridge opening was such a big day for San Francisco.

“We walked for nearly a mile, and then turned around to walk back. About half way back we sat down to eat our sack lunch, and watch all the people walking. Some were on roller skates, and a few on stilts. No one was on bicycles. There were also a few in colorful costumes,” she wrote.

“The next day it opened for automobile traffic at 25 cents a car. That brought on a lot of grumbling and griping at having to pay that much to cross the bridge.”

Cocktails with Ol’ Blue Eyes
Penny was 18-years old and living in Los Angeles when she got a job as an usherette at the RKO Theatre. After work, she and her friends would go dancing at the Hollywood Palladium and sometimes end up at nearby nightclubs.

Penny recalled meeting a certain stranger. “One night a few of us were at a nightclub being served drinks. While sitting there, in came the new singer for the Tommy Dorsey Band with some bandmates. They just joined our table. It was Frank Sinatra and we had cocktails together. I can truthfully say I had cocktails with Frank Sinatra!”

A blessed life
Penny married her first husband Glen Collins, a Navy pilot, in 1942. Unfortunately, Glen’s plane went down in the Pacific Ocean during WWII and his body was never recovered. Years later, the couple’s only son Richard, a West Point graduate, was killed in Vietnam.

In 1948, Penny married her second husband Bob Howard. They had four children together: Dean, Dan (deceased), Russell, and Mary. Bob passed away in 2015 leaving Penny a widow for the second time. She has three grandchildren and four great grandchildren who she adores.

The Sacramento Bee once quoted her as saying, “If you have never experienced setbacks, how can you enjoy the good things? I feel I’m really blessed with a good family. We enjoy each other’s company, and we do things together.”

Penny is a charismatic presence in the community and adored by many. She still lives in the same Fair Oaks home she and Bob bought in the 1970s. She enjoys getting out, socializing with others, and attending church and Fair Oaks Chamber of Commerce functions.

Penny’s daughter Mary, who is also active in the Fair Oaks community, does her best to keep her mom actively engaged. “Mom’s favorite saying these days is ‘I used to be the mother.’ But with the help of my brothers, we strive to keep mom healthy and make sure she’s able to do the things she loves,” said Mary.

“I think people appreciate who mom is and are in awe of her age. They don’t see her limitations, which is a testament to mom’s true character.”