Jeannette Hamby

Jeannette Hamby (March 15, 1933 – January 27, 2012) was an American politician and nurse in Oregon. A native of Minnesota, she worked as an airline attendant, nurse, and educator before entering local politics. A Republican, she served in both chambers of the Oregon Legislature, winning re-election three times to the Oregon State Senate.

Early life Hamby was born as Jeannette Carrie Anne Johnson in 1933 in Minnesota. She grew up in Virginia, Minnesota, a mining town in the Mesabi Iron Range. She was born to immigrants from Finland and only learned English after starting school. After high school she attended the University of Minnesota where she graduated in 1956 with a degree in nursing and public health education.

Political career Hamby began her political career when she was elected to the Hillsboro Union High School Board in 1971. She defeated the incumbent Young in the November election. She won her primary and then again in the November election to represent District 5 and Washington County for a four-year term. Hamby won re-election to another term in 1986, and again in 1990 after she ran unopposed in the Republican primary in May. After winning another four-year term in 1994, Hamby faced conservative Republican Charles Starr in the Republican primary in 1998.

She lost to Starr in the May election, and Starr went on to win the seat in the November election.

A self-proclaimed progressive, she worked to pass a law that prohibited corporal punishment in schools in the state and another law that requires health care providers to report babies affected by illegal drugs. The law against corporal punishment was spurred by an incident where four adults at a private school beat an eight-year-old girl to death.

While state senator in 1983 she was invited by the Council for Human Rights in Latin America to tour Nicaragua. This led her to become a supporter of the Sandinistas, The game allowed people to bet on National Football League games, with the revenues used to provide funding to intercollegiate athletics in the state. The legislation was introduced in 1983 and would have establish guidelines where inmates and prisoners under certain conditions could receive the visits due to the pets therapeutic benefits. Hamby was also appointed to the Metro Boundary Appeals Commission.

Hamby died January 27, 2012, of complications from a stroke and cancer at the age of 78.