Gertha Brown-Hurd, the talk of the town, knows the history of Rillito like the back of her hand. The 75-year-old high school government teacher has been living there since 1963, before there was water, electricity, sewage and gas. The school she attended in Marana was still segregated while she was enrolled in early 1950s. She went on to earn her undergraduate degree from University of Arizona and a graduate degree in social work from Arizona State University. Following in her father’s footsteps, Brown-Hurd acts as the main bridge from Rillito to the county and state. She has been the head of several movements to better the town by leading efforts to get grants for water, road improvement, a park and recreational center, electricity and more. A self-described country girl, she loves Rillito’s open space where she feels safe, but it’s still close enough to developed cities to go grocery shopping.