Unsoeld, Jolene, 1931-

<p>Jolene Unsoeld (born December 3, 1931) is an American politician who served as a member of the United States House of Representatives from 1989 to 1995. She represented the third congressional district of Washington as a Democrat.</p>

<p>Unsoeld was born Jolene Bishoprick in Corvallis, Oregon, on December 3, 1931. She attended Oregon State University from 1949 to 1951. She is the widow of Willi Unsoeld, a mountaineer and later college professor. Accompanying Willi to the Himalayas, she spent two years as director of the English Language Institute of Kathmandu, Nepal.</p>

<p>Unsoeld spent the 1970s and early 1980s as the conscience of the Washington State Legislature. She was one of the leaders of the campaign for Initiative 276, passed in 1972, which created the Washington Public Disclosure Commission, and required disclosure of campaign contributions by candidates for elective office. She was a citizen lobbyist in support of open government, including open public meetings and open public records.</p>

<p>Jolene Unsoeld’s passion for the environment and government transparency shaped a public service career that eventually took her to the U.S. House of Representatives. Serving a Washington state district that stretched from the Pacific Ocean to the Cascade Mountains, each of Unsoeld’s congressional campaigns tested her ability to serve a constituency of diverse business and environmental interests. “Sometimes I feel like I’m in a marathon relay race,” Unsoeld once said of her grueling campaigns. “I’m running alone, but they keep sending in replacements. I wipe them out, and they send in more.”</p>

<p>Jolene Bishoprick was born on December 3, 1931, in Corvallis, Oregon, one of four children born to Stanley and Cora Bishoprick. Her father was in the timber business and moved his family to Oregon, Canada, and China with each new job assignment, finally settling in Vancouver, Washington. From 1949 to 1951, Jolene Bishoprick attended Oregon State University in Corvallis. In college, she met mountaineer and environmental advocate William (Willi) Unsoeld, one of the first climbers to ascend Mt. Everest’s treacherous west ridge. They announced their engagement at the top of Mount Saint Helens before marrying in Vancouver, Washington. Jolene Unsoeld, also an accomplished mountaineer, became the first woman to climb Wyoming’s Grand Teton via its north face. The Unsoelds eventually raised four children, two girls and two boys: Krag, Regon, Nanda Devi, and Terres. Willi Unsoeld directed the Peace Corps in Katmandu, Nepal, and served with the Agency for International Development from 1962 to 1967. Jolene Unsoeld worked as director of an English-language institute. The family returned to the United States in 1967 and settled in Olympia, Washington, in 1971.</p>

<p>While living in the state capital, Jolene Unsoeld took an interest in politics as a self-described “citizen meddler,” recalling, “We had moved to Olympia, and there was the state Capitol, so I set out to see what was happening under that dome.” Unsoeld successfully lobbied for a 1972 bill in the state legislature that created Washington’s public disclosure act. Subsequently serving as a self-appointed watchdog for special interest groups, she authored two editions of the book, Who Gave? Who Got? How Much?, which revealed major interest groups’ contributions to politicians in the Washington legislature. Tragedy marked her early life in public service; twice, in a span of less than three years, Unsoeld lost family members in mountain-climbing accidents. In September 1976, 22-year-old Nanda Devi died while ascending the Himalayan mountain for which she was named. In March 1979, Willi Unsoeld was one of two people killed in an avalanche while climbing Mt. Rainier. ”Living beyond grief is probably as hard a thing as you ever tackle,” Jolene Unsoeld observed years later. “It does toughen you, which is necessary if you’re going to be in this type of [public] service.” In 1984, Unsoeld won an open state legislature seat, where she specialized in environmental issues. From 1980 through 1988, she also served as a member of the Democratic National Committee.</p>