Lila Cockrell

Lila May Banks Cockrell (January 19, 1922 – August 29, 2019) was an American politician, who served twice as mayor of San Antonio, Texas. During World War II, she served in the WAVES branch of the United States Navy. She served as President of the Dallas and San Antonio chapters of the League of Women Voters during the 1950s.

San Antonio city mayor
After serving for a decade on the city council, including her 1969 service as the city's first woman mayor Pro Tem, Cockrell was elected in 1975 to the first of four two-year terms as Mayor of San Antonio. At the time of her inauguration, San Antonio's population gave her the status of the mayor over the largest American city being governed by a woman. She is often listed as the first woman in the United States to be elected mayor of a major metropolis. However, Bertha Knight Landes was mayor of Seattle 1926–1928. Cockrell's first three terms ran consecutively 1975–1981. At the end of her third term, she chose not to run because of the illness of her husband Sidney Earl Cockrell Jr. She was succeeded by Henry Cisneros. Widowed in 1986, she was elected to her fourth term as mayor in 1989 when Cisneros left office.

Retirement
After retiring from political office, Cockrell served on many municipal commissions and civic boards. In 2013, she retired as president of the San Antonio Parks Foundation, a position she had held since 1998.

Cockrell was a member of the Hot Wells Conservancy Board, which is working with the Bexar County Commissioners Court to restore the former Hot Wells hotel, spa, and bathhouses, which flourished in the first two decades of the 20th century. It is located along the San Antonio River in the southside of the city.

Honors

 * The Lila Cockrell Theatre, named in her honor, is part of the Henry B. González Convention Center in Downtown San Antonio. Also, a meeting room at the Convention Center directly below the Theatre is named the Mayor Cockrell Room in her honor.
 * She was inducted into the Texas Women's Hall of Fame in 1984.
 * She received an honorary doctorate from St. Mary's University in May 2017 during the commencement ceremony for the class of 2017.