Interview with Jeanne Hollingsworth by Mike Hastings

Biographial Note

Jeanne Hollingsworth was born in McCook, Nebraska, on September 18, 1948, to Barbara (Davis) and John Robert Hollingsworth. She spent her early years in Holbrook, Nebraska, on her father’s cattle ranch with five siblings. The family moved to Kearney, Nebraska, when she was twelve, and from there they moved to Kitchener-Waterloo, Canada, where Jeanne attended high school and her father was in the furniture business. She attended North Georgia Military College for two years and became interested in politics because of the Vietnam War and the peace movement. She traveled for some years between Maine and Georgia, finally settling in Maine and becoming increasingly interested in organic gardening and MOFGA (Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association). It was through her political activities with that group and the pesticide issue that she met Tom Bertocci. She was hired to work for Senator Mitchell in the Rockland, Maine, state field office in 1986, established good veterans’ relations, and remained until 1994. She worked in Washington, DC, for six years, first with the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission and then at USAID. She returned to Maine in 2000 when the administration changed and has continued to be involved with local politics.

Summary