Former 1st District Congresswoman Leaves Legacy Details
Former U.S Representative Elizabeth Furse passed away Sunday, April 18th due to complications from a fall. She was 84. Furse represented the 1st Congressional District, which includes the Northern Oregon coast, from 1993 until succeeded by David WU in 1999. She was a Democrat and was the first naturalized U.S. Citizen born in Africa to win an election to the United States Congress.
Elizabeth Furse was born a British subject in Nairobi, Kenya, on October 13, 1936. Her grandmother, Dame Katherine Furse, established the Women’s Royal Naval Service (the “Wrens”) during World War I. Her father was a naval lieutenant who later settled in the then-British colony of Kenya as a coffee planter. The family moved to South Africa, where Furse’s mother established an anti-apartheid women’s group, “Black Sash.” Elizabeth Furse marched with the group at the age of 15. In 1955 she left South Afri