Eureka Forbes

Eureka Bernice Forbes ( Barnum; October 17, 1904 – September 15, 1985) was an American politician from the state of Hawaii. She was one of the first women elected to the Hawaii House of Representatives after statehood in 1959.

Biography

Early life and education Forbes was born Fort Worth, Texas in 1904. Forbes earned a bachelor of arts degree from the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA), and her early career was spent as a teacher in Los Angeles where she taught elementary school from 1924 to 1930. She married Frederick B. Forbes in June 1932 and moved to Hawaii shortly afterwards where her husband worked. she served in the House until 1966, when she was elected to the Hawaii Senate to represent Manoa and Waikiki, until her retirement in 1974. Forbes died in a Honolulu nursing home, where she resided for the last decade of her life, on September 15, 1985.