Helen Hardin Jackson (1933-2018) was not from Snohomish County but her influence on the community has lived on. She grew up in New Mexico and attended college in New York and California. After a brief first marriage, she soon became a secretary to Senator Clinton P. Anderson (1895-1975), a Democrat from New Mexico. She met Henry “Scoop” Jackson (1912-1983) in 1961 at his swearing in ceremony, a Democrat from Everett. He was 20 years older than her but he was charmed.
Among her many duties as a politician’s wife after his death, she established the Henry M. Jackson Foundation and served as chairman of the board for many years. According to Linda Bryant, she didn’t just “give her name to a project, unless she can give her time and talent as well. Isn’t interested in political office, but is committed to public service.”*
- *Linda Bryant, “With Memories of Scoop; Helen Jackson, Back Home in Everett, Wash,” The Washington Post, May 28, 1987, p. C-2
- Jackson, Helen Hardin (1933-2018) by Melinda Van Wingen
Posted 11/01/2011 HistoryLink.org Essay 9913. - Note – the Henry M. Jackson Foundation was one of the early funders of the Snohomish Womens Legacy Project.
- Photograph from the UW Libraries Special Collections Division as the Henry M. Jackson papers, Accession No. 3560.
WLP Story # 85