By admin 
TUCSON, Ariz. (13 News) – The city of Sierra Vista is celebrating a major milestone this year as it turns 70 years old. While the community has come a long way since its incorporation in 1956, few people in southern Arizona know the wild, backdoor story of how the city actually got its name.
Before it was known as Sierra Vista, the community outside Fort Huachuca was called “Fry.” The name honored the Fry family, who were among the first homesteaders to settle in the area in the early 1900s.
For decades, the family name served as the town’s identity. The Fry family ran the local general store and the first post office, which is the exact reason why the city’s main thoroughfare is still called Fry Boulevard today.
But as the town moved toward official incorporation in 1956, local leaders wanted something new.
“They asked people for suggestions for names, and people put some in,” said Elizabeth Wrozek, president of the Sierra Vista Historical Society.
Longtime resident Nola Mae Walker suggested the name “Sierra Vista” after gazing at the beautiful Huachuca Mountains from her porch. Her idea made the final ballot alongside “Fry” and a few other ideas.
The name suggestions were then mailed to registered voters, and Walker was tasked with collecting and storing the returned voter postcards.
“She had them all in a drawer, and she just hadn’t gotten around to looking through them yet,” Wrozek said. “And then the incorporation committee, which she was a part of, went up to Phoenix to submit their paperwork.”
The committee did not realize they would receive immediate approval. When they did, they called Walker from Phoenix with an urgent problem.
“They called her and said, ‘We don’t have a name, what name won?’ And she hadn’t counted them yet,” Wrozek said. “And she said ‘Sierra Vista’ … and that was it.”
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Sierra Vista officially became the name of the newly incorporated town on May 26, 1956.
For decades, Walker kept the secret that she never actually tallied the votes. The truth finally came out in 2006 during the city’s 50th birthday celebration.
“The story was out, and she knew it,” said Former Sierra Vista Mayor Thomas Hessler.
In an effort to clear her name, Hessler reached out to Walker’s son with an idea.
“I don’t know if your mom would like this or not, but I have an idea,” Hessler recalled. “Why don’t we summon her to a city council meeting, and I’ll read her a proclamation dissolving her of all her crimes.”
Knowing his mother had carried the guilt for years, Walker’s son loved the idea. On July 13, 2006, Hessler signed a playful, highly unofficial pardon for the “crime” of falsifying a public contest.
“I don’t even know if what I did was legal,” Hessler joked.
While the resolution brought laughs to most, a few residents were not happy by the news.
“Most people didn’t bat an eye,” Wrozek said. “We do have some people who have said afterward, once it came out that Nola hadn’t counted, who were very upset, who said, ‘I knew it!’ and are still alive and upset about it today. But for the most part, it’s just one of those quirky stories our residents really enjoy.”
Seven decades later, Sierra Vista stands as a city with a name born out of a little bit of panic, a beautiful mountain view, and a secret kept for half a century.