Carnahan, Jean, 1933-

Jean Anne Carpenter Carnahan (born December 20, 1933) is an American politician and writer who was the First Lady of Missouri from 1993 to 2000, and served as the state's junior United States Senator from 2001 to 2002. A Democrat, she was appointed to fill the Senate seat of her husband Mel Carnahan, who had been posthumously elected, becoming the first woman to represent Missouri in the U.S. Senate.

Born Jean Anne Carpenter in Washington, D.C., to a working-class family, Carnahan was determined to go to college. Jean worked through the year while attending George Washington University. She graduated in 1955 with a degree in Business and Public Administration, the first in her family to graduate from high school and college. She is an alumna of Kappa Delta sorority. She married Mel Carnahan in 1954 and two years later they moved to his home state of Missouri. As her husband entered politics, she became his political partner. He was elected Governor of Missouri, serving from 1993 to 2000. She was an activist First Lady: an advocate for on-site daycare centers for working families, childhood immunization, abuse centers, the arts, and Habitat for Humanity.

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