Jolene Unsoeld, a longtime political activist who represented the Olympia area in Congress and the state Legislature, died Sunday. She was 89, but set to turn 90 on Friday.
"She died Sunday at home in bed, the way she wanted to do it," said Krag Unsoeld, the third of her four children. He said he and his older brother, Regon, were by her side when she passed.
"I am so fortunate to have had the parents I had," said Krag, referring to not only Jolene, but also his father, Bill, who was known in the mountaineering community as "Willi." Willi Unsoeld, a member of the first American expedition to summit Mount Everest, died in an avalanche on Mount Rainier in 1979.
Krag said his mother became politically active in the 1970s and 80s. She was a champion for open government and 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 later was given the James Madison award by the Washington Coalition for Open Government.
A Democrat, she won a seat in the state Legislature representing the 22nd District from 1985 to 1989, filling the seat previously held by now-Insurance Commissioner Mike Kreidler.
Unsoeld went on to represent the 3rd District in Congress from 1989 to 1995, where she furthered environmental legislation.
She was the third woman to represent Washington in Congress and was one of 30 women serving in the House of Representatives at the time. While in Congress, Unsoeld worked on three committees: merchant marine and fisheries, education and labor, and the select committee on aging, according to The Columbian in Vancouver, Washington.
She most notably worked to pass the federal Freedom of Information Act, but became best known for her opposition to gun control. Unsoeld also was an opponent of the North American Free Trade Agreement, arguing it was insufficient in protecting the labor rights of both Mexican and American workers.
Unsoeld lost her seat to Republican Linda Smith in 1994 but continued her public service and advocacy for environmental reform and government transparency.
"Jolene Unsoeld: U.S. Representative, 1989-95; State Representative; author of toxic waste initiative; podiatrist who studied footprints of big money in politics, first woman to climb north face of the Grand Teton. A splendid life," said longtime reporter and columnist Joel Connelly in a tweet Monday night.
Stephen Bray of Olympia, an Unsoeld family friend, recalled her as "strong-minded, strong-willed and seemingly tireless as she worked toward the goals and causes she believed in, especially environmental issues."
She also had the energy and will as a single parent to forge an identity of her own after her husband's death.
"I always thought it was quite amazing," Bray said.
She did not remarry, Krag said.
"You could say she was remarried to political activism, continuing to be a 'hopeless meddler,'" said Krag, referencing the subtitle of a book she wrote called, "What are you gonna DO about it?" She also authored a book about her life with Willi called "Wild Adventures We Have Known."
Unsoeld was born Jolene Bishoprick in Corvallis, Oregon, on Dec. 3, 1931. She and her family moved to Vancouver when she was a teenager and then she moved back to her hometown to attend Oregon State University, according to The Columbian.
While in college, Unsoeld joined a mountaineering club where she met Bill Unsoeld, whom she married on the banks of the Columbia River in Vancouver in 1951, the paper reported.
Bill and Jolene Unsoeld traveled to Nepal together in 1962 to work with the Peace Corps and an English-language institute for five years. After returning to the U.S., the family settled in Olympia in 1971, according to the paper.
Details about a public memorial were not immediately known.
