Margaret Hurley

Margaret Ellen Hurley (née Morse; September 10, 1909 – August 29, 2015) was an American politician in the state of Washington. Hurley served in the Washington House of Representatives as a Democrat from the 3rd district from 1953 to 1979, succeeding her husband, Joseph E. Hurley. She served in the Washington State Senate from 1979 to 1984, to replace the unexpired term of Katherine Reid. On both occasions, she was succeeded by Lois Stratton.

Early life Hurley was born Margaret Ellen Morse on September 10, 1909, in Winnebago, Minnesota. She was the youngest of eight children of David Hall Morse and Margaret Morse. Her mother was second generation Irish Catholic and the children were raised very religiously. When she was two, her father moved the family to Spokane, Washington, where he founded a business that sold lumber and firewood, before the family relocated to an alfalfa and apple farm in the Methow Valley three years later. The farm did not have electricity or running water and the family was often poor. Her brother, Maynard, died when Hurley was ten and a year later, the house burned down when a kerosene lamp blew over. The family relocated to her brother's house while it was rebuilt but her father left for months, leaving the children with their mother.

When Hurley was thirteen, her father sold the farm on the urging of her and her mother and they moved to Spokane so she could attend Holy Names Academy instead of her previous one-room school. She initially felt like an outsider, having moved from the country and having to wait tables in the dining hall to pay her way through school but she excelled academically, becoming an honors student. She was elected class president and in her senior year, she took additional night courses in shorthand and typing but ultimately decided to stay at the school to receive her teacher's certificate after two years, with her sister paying her tuition. She was re-elected the following year in the general election. In the senate, she became involved with environmental activism as a member of the ecology and energy committees, including opposing clear-cutting. She spoke about a scandal at the Washington Public Power Supply System in Hanford, where whistleblowers had reported dangerous construction and the potential release of radioactive materials. She also opposed the construction of a nuclear waste dump in Hanford, which was never built. She died on August 29, 2015, at the age of 105. She received a number of honors, including the Marian Medal, the highest honor of her alma mater.