Lois North

Lois Esther North (Hiester; born November 23, 1921) is an American former politician in the state of Washington.

North was born Lois Hiester on November 23, 1921, in Berkeley, California.

She was the youngest of three children of Cyrus Hiester and Anna Bertelse Hiester.

She was involved in student government and debate during high school.

She graduated from the University of California, Berkeley, with a bachelors of arts degree and a general secondary teaching certificate.

She completed graduate studies at UC Berkeley and Columbia University.

While studying at UC Berkeley, she met Douglass C. North who she married in 1944.

She worked as a teacher before the couple moved to Seattle, Washington, where she became involved with the League of Women Voters after the birth of their children.

In college, North met Douglass C. North and the couple married on June 29, 1944, in Albany, California.

When her husband accepted a job with the University of Washington in 1950, the couple moved to Seattle.

They had three sons between 1951 and 1957 – Douglass, Christopher and Malcolm – and North became a stay-at-home mom.

The League had drafted a previous ballot initiative in 1957 to redistrict the state which had been dismantled by the state legislature, and North became state chair for the 1962 effort to introduce a re-districting ballot initiative.

After drafting the measure, working with advisors and holding public hearings, the initiative was ultimately rejected by voters.

She led the effort to redistrict the state legislature in 1962, although the ballot measure she drafted ultimately was rejected by the voters.

During this time, she became politically involved, joining the League of Women Voters of Seattle and serving as the chapter’s president between 1963 and 1967.

North supported that the League was non-partisan but she took a strong stand on issues, supporting a state income tax, lowering the voting age to eighteen, and a constitutional amendment to enact a recurrent, ten-year requirement for redistricting.

She lobbied the state capital in Olympia in favor of these issues on behalf of the organization.

In 1967, she was elected to the King County commission tasked with drafting a new county charter.

Along with fourteen fellow freeholders, she made recommendations to the public about proposed amendments to county offices.

She was in favor of either an appointed or elected county administrator with a stated political affiliation.

North was encouraged by Tim Hill to run for election in his former seat in the Washington House of Representatives when he resigned to join the Seattle City Council in 1967.

North also served on the King County commission which drafted the new county charter that was approved by voters in 1968.

North was first elected to the Washington House of Representatives in 1968, where she worked to pass environmental legislation.

The proposed King County charter was approved by voters in 1968.

She was elected as the representative for the 44th district in November 1968.

As a moderate Republican, her views aligned with Governor Daniel J. Evans and she supported his ultimately unsuccessful tax reform.

She sponsored six environmental bills during the first session, covering areas such as open space, liability for oil spills, government-mandated effluent standards and a recreational trail system.

She was one of five women in the House during her first term, out of a total of 99 members.

North joined the Women's Council, a revised version of the Commission on the Status of Women created by Governor Albert Rosellini.

In this role, North – who was openly pro-choice at a time when this was a bi-partisan position – sponsored a bill to reform abortion by amending the criminal code.

A Republican, North served in the Washington House of Representatives for the 44th district between 1969 and 1975 and the Washington State Senate from the 44th district between 1975 and 1979.

Born in Berkeley, California, she attended the University of California, Berkeley and Columbia University.

A moderate, pro-choice Republican, she sponsored a bill to reform abortion policy which led to its legalization through Initiative 20 in 1970.

She was the primary sponsor of the state-wide equal rights amendment (ERA) and led the movement to ratify the federal ERA in Washington.

The couple later divorced in 1972.

North began her career teaching high school history and math.

She was elected to the Washington State Senate in 1974, where she served for three terms, retiring from office in 1979.

She was then elected to the King County Council to represent the 4th district, serving three terms.

She chose not to seek re-election in 1991.

Her husband joined the U.S. Merchant Marines for a year during World War II and then began a career in economics, for which he later received a Nobel Memorial Prize in 1993.