First 2 Women Elected To WCC Board Seats

Ann Cleary Heck of Ypsilanti and Sally Buxton of Ann Arbor were elected Tuesday as the first women members of Washtenaw Community College's Board of Trustees. WCC Board Chairman Richard C. Creal of Ann Arbor was the top vote winner among five candidates who competed for three vacancies. The three winners will begin six-year terms on the WCC board on Jan. 1. Unofficial returns from the 164 precincts in WCC's voting and taxing district (all of Washtenaw County except Salem Township) showed Creal with 37,168 votes, Mrs. Heck with 34,505, Miss Buxton with 32,346 Although the election was nonpartisan, the successful candidates did not share the same endorsements. Creal and Mrs. Heek were endorsed in a letter distribuí - ed locally by former WCC Board Chairman E d w a r d Adams Jr. of Ann Arbor. Adams also endorsed WCC Trustee Robert C. Ressler, who was appointed to the board by its other members in August to complete a term running to Iec. 31 which was vacated when Adams resigned for health reasons. The unofficial returns gave Ressler 28,157 votes, for fourth place. Miss Buxton was endorsed by the political education committee of the WCC Education Association, the instructors' union, as was Frank L. Sampson of Ypsilanti. The unofficial returns showed 26,718 votes for Sampson. Creal, 42, is a charter member of the WCC board, having been elected in 1964 and 1966. Board members elected him as vice chairman last year and as chairman last August following the resignation of Adams from the chairmanship and from the board. Mrs. Heek, 41, who is secretary to the director of nursing education at Eastern Michigan University, and Miss Buxton, 28, a program associate in the office of the University of Michigan's vice president for planning and state relations, are the. f irst women to have sought election to WCC's board. Both won votes at generally comparable levéis in both Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti precincts, with Miss Buxton leading Mrs. Heek in a few Ypsilanti precincts while Mrs. Heek led Miss Buxton in some Ann Arbor precincts. Much of the margin which won Mrs. Heek second place came in outlying areas of the country. Their election comes at a time when WCC's enrollment consists of 1,448 women compared to 1,220 a year ago, and 2,750 men compared to 2,804 a year ago.