Photo by Emily Reed
Sara Wuska smiles in this portrait taken at her home in summer 2025. Now 94, Wuska’s mark on the city’s history predates its incorporation in 1950, extending to today. From serving on the school board, to serving as the city’s first woman mayor and continuing beyond her term as an active, engaged citizen, Wuska has helped shape life in Vestavia Hills for decades.
The first time Sara Wuska knocked on a door to campaign for mayor, she brought two things — her smile and her reputation as someone who got things done.
Wuska spent decades making sure every task she took on made her city better — a city she called home since the 1950s.
“My love for the Vestavia Hills community runs very deep,” Wuska said. “Not only did my children grow up here, but I’ve watched this community form and I’m so thrilled for what it has become.”
As Vestavia Hills marks its 75th anniversary, no civic figure has left a deeper imprint than Sara Wuska — the city’s first and only female mayor, a founding member of its school board and a leader whose fingerprints still shape daily life. Now 94, Wuska reflects on a life of public service, private resilience and quiet power — the kind that helped build a city.
This is her story.
DECIDING TO RUN
Wuska never planned to run for mayor. But when she learned a man planned to challenge her seat on the City Council, she did what she’d always done — got to work.
“I was planning to run again for the council, but I knew he’d make me work for it,” Wuska said. “So I figured, if I’m going to work that hard, I might as well run for mayor. I think I probably shocked the stew out of that fellow when I put my name in the running.”
That decision would have been unthinkable in her childhood.
“Politics fascinated me, but my father was of the belief that politics was not something a woman should be interested in,” she said. “I couldn’t help it. It always fascinated me.”
COMMUNITY ROOTS
Wuska was born Jan. 5, 1931, in Barbour County in southeast Alabama. She grew up in a home of five girls.
“My sisters were my dearest friends,” Wuska said. “They all liked to joke that teaching kind of came naturally to me because I would practice teaching them. One of my sisters said she had a head start on a lot of things because I taught her so much at an early age.”
After high school, many classmates went to Auburn University. Wuska, however, earned a work scholarship to attend the University of Alabama, where she studied elementary education.
A perk that stood out was its indoor swimming pool.
“I had always been fascinated by swimming, but I came from a generation where my father thought it was not a good idea to go swimming because he didn’t like the swimsuits the girls would wear,” Wuska said. “When I found out the University of Alabama had an indoor swimming pool, that just about sold it for me. I took the intro-to-swimming course multiple times because I loved it so much.”
At Alabama, she met her future husband, Tim Wuska. They married in 1951, two weeks after graduation, and moved to Homewood. She taught school for two years while he worked for ACIPCO as an engineer.
The Wuskas quickly started a family, having three children in 33 months. A fourth arrived 12 years later.
“I was very busy at the time when my children were born,” she recalled. “I wanted them to look at their mother and realize that I wanted to be involved in all of the things they were interested in. When we first moved to Vestavia, I could count more than 60 kids on just two blocks where we lived. It was a place of young, growing families, and I just loved everyone we got to meet so much.”
The family moved to Vestavia Hills when the city was just six years old, drawn by affordable homes and open land.
“It was just forming,” she said. “I wanted to be a part of all of the things I could. I remember driving up to see the city for the first time, and there were just dogwoods everywhere. It looked like snow on either side of the narrow road that led into the city.”
Wuska first became involved in the community by helping establish the library system and serving on its first board. She was then appointed to the first school board on May 4, 1970.
She was the only woman on the board — and the youngest by decades — but was instrumental in helping form the school system.
She went on to serve four years on the City Council and was eventually elected the city’s first female mayor — a role no other woman has held since.
Photo courtesy of Vestavia Hills Historical Society
Vestavia Hills Mayor Sara Wuska, right, presents President George H.W. Bush with a key to the city during the president’s visit to campaign for the Congressional candidacy of J.T. “Jabo” Waggoner on Oct. 30, 1984.
Wuska was also the first mayor to work full time for the city.
“I worked about seven days a week — very long days — but I was always home to put supper on the table for my family,” Wuska said. “I was happy to do it, but I knew the commitment it required for things to get done, and I was willing to put in the time.”
She was in her 50s when she took office, leading a city of just over 12,000.
Wuska spent many months before the election walking door to door in the community.
“I felt like if I was going to serve the people as mayor, I needed to hear from them,” Wuska said. “I went door to door and talked to people. It was during this time I was also able to observe a community that was growing and changing, and it was very important that I not only listen to what people had to say but try and put it into practice as well.”
Her husband, Tim, helped her campaign — often spending evenings after work talking to residents.
By June 13, 1984, Wuska was reported by The Birmingham News as “tossing her hat into the mayor’s race of Vestavia Hills.”
She was officially elected July 21, 1984, beating political opponent Jack Traffanstedt.
Wuska credited her election success to being known as someone active who got things done.
“I had spent time forming the school system of our city. I was a city councilwoman. I was actively involved in numerous clubs and organizations,” Wuska said. “I think people knew that I was going to stick to my word and do what I said I would do. I knew how to take people who had great talents, or people that were capable of helping in various ways, and coordinate that to get something done.”
In a Birmingham News article, staff writer Lou Isaacson quoted Wuska as saying her success came in part because of her care for people.
“I want everybody to feel free to come see me if they have a problem or call me when they want to talk about something in particular,” she was quoted as saying.
She remained true to that promise — always setting aside time to listen to constituents.
Photo courtesy of Vestavia Hills Historical Society
Sara Wuska was noted for her communication style during her time as mayor from 1984-88, including her regular Report from The Mayor dispatches to update residents on the business of City Hall.
Wuska believed elected officials should offer services that cared for people and respond to their needs. She was a proponent of communication and created “A Report from the Mayor,” a newsletter inviting residents to reach out.
A MAYOR'S IMPACT
Key issues she faced included removing asbestos from the high school, expanding senior services and laying groundwork for annexing Liberty Park.
Current Mayor Ashley Curry said one major contribution from her term was the formation of the Vestavia Hills Transportation Program in 1985.
“This service, coordinated through the Parks and Recreation Department, provided transportation for our senior citizens who were unable to drive,” Curry said. “The service covered doctor visits and grocery shopping and at one time had as many as 30 volunteer drivers.”
The city offered this service until the COVID-19 pandemic, when it was discontinued.
During her term, about 695 homes were built or planned on 400 acres. School enrollment increased by 793 students from 1984 to 1987. About 50 acres were annexed for commercial development, including 20 acres in Altadena Valley near Interstate 459.
Wuska did not seek re-election after her four-year term. She never gave a public reason, but those who knew her say she believed in doing what needed to be done — then making space for others.
A LIFE REFLECTED
Wuska now spends most days at her home, where she’s lived since 1967. She often recalls when her children played on the street and the parents were her friends.
Now, many of those friends are gone. A new generation occupies the homes — one that thrives because of the work Wuska and others helped start.
“There are not many left who were around when I came here so many years ago,” Wuska said. “There are times when I miss what it used to be.”
She gets out in the community when she can — grocery shopping, visiting City Hall, staying within what she calls her “little circuit.”
“It is about five miles, but I can get a lot done in those five miles,” she said.
Her husband, Tim, died in 2014. She is the only surviving sister in her family. Many of her early colleagues have passed. One of the few still living is City Attorney Pat Boone, who worked with Wuska for years and called her “a public servant who helped us all.”
When asked what would’ve happened if she never came to Vestavia Hills, Wuska paused.
“Oh goodness, I don’t like to think about that,” she said. “If I had never come to this city, I would have never met so many wonderful people. I know I won’t be around to see it, but my hope for the future of Vestavia Hills is that it will thrive the way it has for the last 75.”
