Jewel Lansing

Jewel Beck Lansing is the author of Portland: People, Politics, and Power, 1851-2001, a 150-year history published by the Oregon State University Press in 2003. In 2012, she co-authored, with journalist Fred Leeson, Multnomah: The Tumultuous Story of Oregon's Most Populist County, also published by the OSU Press. She is presently researching a dictionary-style political history of Oregon women.

Jewel introduced governmental performance auditing to Oregon while serving as the elected Multnomah County Auditor from 1975 to 1982 and as City of Portland Auditor from 1983 to 1986. In November 1974, Jewel and Commissioner Alice Corbett were the first women ever elected to Multnomah County office. At Portland City Hall, Jewel was only the fifth woman to serve as an elected City of Portland official. (Her predecessors were Dorothy McCullough Lee, Connie McCready, Mildred Schwab, and Margaret Strachan, the first three of whom were first appointed, rather than elected) to the city council.

In 1976 and 1980, Jewel won the Democratic primary for Oregon State Treasurer, but lost both times by a narrow margin in the general election. When she ran in 1976, no woman had yet been elected to statewide state office. Jewel chronicled these statewide campaign experiences in two books -- Campaigning for Office; A Woman Runs and 101 Campaign Tips for Women Candidates and Their Staffs -- both of which are now out-of-print. Her races were widely viewed as inspirational to other women candidates for elective office.

Public service and politics have been strong threads throughout Jewel's adult life. She continues her interest in politics as a founder and board member of WIN-PAC (Women's Investment Network -- Political Action Committee), a group committed to electing more progressive women to the Oregon legislature. Prior to her political career, Jewel worked as a certified public accountant. She received a bachelor's degree in journalism from the University of Montana in 1952 and a master's degree in education from Stanford University in 1954. She wrote about her Montana growing-up years in My Montana: A History and Memoir, 1930 to 1950, published in 2007. She also wrote a murder mystery, Deadly Games in City Hall, set in Portland City Hall, published in 1997. 

Jewel and her husband, Ron, an emeritus professor at Lewis and Clark College Law School, celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary in 2006. The couple lived in Salem for four years when they first came to Oregon. Jewel taught sixth grade at the Keizer School while Ron attended Willamette University Law School and clerked for the Chief Justice of the Oregon Supreme Court. They have lived in Portland since 1961. Their three children and five grandchildren all live in Oregon -- in Beaverton, Scappoose, and Grants Pass.

Jewel enjoys canoeing, hiking, reading, aerobics, and playing cards, especially live poker tournaments and friendly home games. She is the founder of a women's poker group of politically-minded women that has been meeting monthly since May 1997. One of her book reading groups, The Grateful Read, has been meeting since May 1995. The members of her Viva Libra book group, which began meeting in 2007, all belong to the Portland League of Women Voters. Jewel is a member of the First Unitarian Church of Portland and served as president of the West Hills Unitarian Fellowship in 1971-72.

Portland: People, Politics, and Power, 1851-2001 was an Oregon Book Awards Finalist in 2004. Other honors Jewel has received include Silver! Hall of Fame recognition in 2004 from Elders in Action; a Woman of Achievement from the Oregon League of Women Voters in 1995; and five 1987 awards -- Taxpayer's Champion Award from Oregonians for Cost Effective Government; First Woman Award from the Oregon Women's Political Caucus; the Sue Juba Service Award from the Portland Women's Political Caucus; a Public Service Award from the Oregon Society of CPAs; and a Distinguished Leadership Award from the Oregon Association of Government Accountants.

Locate on Walk:

• Stage Wall (Left Wall), 1-3