Frances Penrose Owen
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Frances Shipman Penrose Owen (February 16, 1900 – March 9, 2002) was a community volunteer in Seattle, Washington, a 22-year member of the Seattle School Board and the first woman on the Board of Regents of Washington State University, the state's land-grant research institution, serving from 1957 to 1975.
Penrose was born in Walla Walla, Washington.[1] She was the second of six children of Stephen Beasley Linnard Penrose, long-time president of Whitman College, and his wife Mary Deming Shipman Penrose.[2] She graduated magna cum laude with a bachelor's degree in Greek from Whitman College in 1919. In 1920, she became a charter member of Whitman's Phi Beta Kappa chapter.[3] Penrose continued her education with graduate studies at Bryn Mawr College and earned a master's degree in education from Harvard University in 1922.[4][5]
Penrose also earned a certificate in merchandising and personnel work from the Prince School in Boston,[6] affiliated with Simmons College and Harvard University. In 1925, she took a position as a personnel training officer with the Frederick & Nelson Department Store in Seattle. She also was a training director for a Minneapolis department store before marriage.[7]
Public service
Following her marriage in 1934, Owen joined the Board of Trustees of Children's Orthopedic Hospital, which later became the Seattle Children's Hospital. She was on the hospital board for 36 years. In 1945, Owen was elected to the Seattle School Board, serving until 1967. She was the second woman on the school board. During her 22-year tenure, she was board president four times.[8] Then, in 1957, then Governor Albert Rosellini appointed Owen to the WSU Board of Regents, the first woman in that role. She served for 18 years and was twice elected board president.[9] Her public service career was wide-ranging, including the Seattle Community Chest, board membership of the Ryther Child Center in Seattle and the National Child Welfare League.[10]
Recognition
In 1990, then Washington Governor Booth Gardner presented Owen the state's Medal of Merit for her service to education. In 1989, the Seattle School Board dedicated the Frances Penrose Owen Auditorium at Seattle School Board headquarters in her honor. In 1979,[11] Washington State University honored her 18 years of service as a regent by naming a major new library on the Pullman campus the Frances Penrose Owen Science and Engineering Library.[12] In 1966–1968, she received Citizen of the Year honors from two Seattle organizations,[13] including the Seattle-King County Board of Realtors.[14] In 1949, she received the honorary Doctor of Humane Letters from Whitman College, her undergraduate alma mater.[15]