Community Volunteer Awards

2023 Honoree

Ken Cooley

Rancho Cordovan of the Year

Ken Cooley

It may have been decades in coming, but it only took an instant to make it official when the Rancho Cordova City Council declared itself in business during a celebration marking the birth of a new city 20 years ago.

Each council member chose a special person to issue the oath of office. There were judges and elected officials among them. 

When it was Ken Cooley’s turn, the person officiating was his longtime friend and Cordova Neighborhood Church Pastor, Mike Mitchum. The choice said a lot about where Ken had come from and where he would head for the next 20 years. Friendship, family and faith are priorities.

A graduate of the University of California Berkeley and McGeorge School of Law, Ken headed back to Sacramento after graduation with his new wife Sydney and settled in Rancho Cordova, heading to work as Chief of Staff to state Assemblyman Lou Papan. He held other legislative jobs and later worked as general counsel to State Farm Insurance. He became an elected official in 2002, elected to that first City Council. In 2012 he was elected to the California Assembly.

During a shining political career, those who followed Ken became aware he was a devout family man and faithful Christian. He would often quote the cleric John Wesley’s famous call to action:

Do all the good you can, by all the means you can, in all the ways you can, in all the places you can, at all the times you can, to all the people you can, as long as ever you can.

It rather neatly captured the guiding light of Ken’s years of public service.

Ken had some remarkable moments as a city councilman. One of the most memorable may have been when, as Mayor, he came up with “My City Hall – Make Your Mark.” 

As the city prepared to move into this beautiful building, Ken urged residents to come to a large room which was stripped bare, take pen in hand and write on the floors and walls dreams for what our city could be. Many came, and those writings remain preserved in City Council Chambers, an invisible reminder of what this is all about.

In the years that followed, Ken would often find himself leading causes close to his heart. When his own son and daughter-in-law adopted children, Ken became California’s leading legislative advocate for improving the foster care system. 

Who can forget Ken, a kayaking enthusiast, handling the paddling chores for the City of Rancho Cordova team for Eppie’s Great Race? Years later, Ken would lead an effort for funding to remove homeless camps from along the American River he loves.

Over the years it was fun to watch Ken tackle other challenges in these very personal ways. When rain waters backed up in the brand new neighborhoods of Anatolia, Ken waded in 8 inches of water, shoveling madly. When Mills Middle School kids needed breakfast during an environmental camping trip, Ken did not order up Egg McMuffins, he pulled out his portable grill and started making pancakes.

Ken initiated neighborhood walks and invited everyone along. Donning a skimmer trimmed in red, white and blue, he would stride through the neighborhood to chat with residents, stopping at the occasional yard sale to pick up a bargain.

He was an avid door-to-door campaigner, ringing more doorbells over his political career than a FedEx delivery driver. He is a master of the pun, and as painful as they are to hear sometimes, add to his personality profile.

We know that Ken’s Assembly District was redrawn in a way that did not advantage him, probably accounting for a disappointing result in his last campaign. But in an era when other politicians cry foul and challenge the electoral process, Ken called his opponent, congratulated him, and reminded all of us that that’s how our system works.

And what about that swearing in 20 years ago? Well, Mike Mitchum’s daughter married Ken Cooley’s son, who went on to become the pastor at Cordova Neighborhood Church. Friendship, family and faith survived politics and endured.

We could go on and on about Ken’s accomplishments, because the Rancho Cordovan of the Year is a lifetime achievement award. 

But perhaps the most important gift he leaves is the message to the future -- to somebody we don’t even know. It might be a young person who, like Alice in Wonderland, is just trying to find life’s path.

And that person will know that anyone willing to take the risk – even someone from Rancho Cordova – can become a California Assemblyman and do all the good they can, because Ken Cooley showed the way.

For all of that and more, congratulations to Ken Cooley, Rancho Cordovan of the Year.