Johnson, Joan

Nancy Ryles was born in Portland, Oregon in 1937. She graduated from Jefferson High School and attended one year at Willamette University. In 1957 she married Vernon Ryles, they had two children, Scott and Ashley.

She began her political career on the Beaverton School Board in 1972 and was reelected in 1975. In 1978 she ran as a Republican for the Oregon Legislature, served two terms in the House of Representatives and then was twice elected to the Senate. In 1987 she resigned from the Senate to become the first woman appointed to Oregon’s Public Utility Commission.

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