Murray, Florence Kerins, 1916-2004

Florence K. Murray (1916–2004) was a high-ranking officer in the Women's Army Corps, the first female state senator in Rhode Island, the first female judge in Rhode Island and the first female member of the Rhode Island Supreme Court. Florence Kerins Murray was born in Newport, Rhode Island in 1916 She was a graduate of Rogers High School in Newport, and Syracuse University in New York. She graduated from Boston University law school in 1942.[1] She was married to Paul F. Murray, who died in 1995. Murray was commissioned as an officer in the Women's Army Corps during the Second World War and rose to the rank of lieutenant colonel, the youngest woman to achieve that rank at that time.She served on the staff of the Director of the Women's Army Corps, Colonel Oveta Hobby, in Washington, D.C.[4]

She was discharged from the Army in 1947. For her military service she was awarded the Legion of Merit, the Army Commendation Medal, the Women's Army Corps Service Medal, the American Campaign Medal and the World War Two Victory Medal.[5] fter the war, she was elected as a Democrat to the Rhode Island state senate and served from 1949 to 1956. She was the first woman to serve as a state senator in Rhode Island. She was a delegate to the Democratic National Convention in 1952.[5]

Judicial career
In 1956, she was the first woman appointed as a Superior Court judge in Rhode Island.[6] In 1978, she was appointed Chief Justice of the Rhode Island Superior Court.[7][2]

In November 1979, she was elected by the Rhode Island General Assembly as an associate justice of the Rhode Island Supreme Court. She was the first female supreme court justice in Rhode Island.[8] She retired from the court in 1996 after having served as a judge for 40 years.[2] She died at her home in Newport on March 28, 2004,[2][11] and is buried with her husband in Trinity Cemetery in Portsmouth, Rhode Island.