Forms part of the Oregon Legislature Oral History Series.
Collection is open for research.
Kathryn Boe-Duncan was born Kathryn Reule in Portland, Oregon, in 1930. She studied education at Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma, Washington. She met Jason Boe while in college, and they were married in 1952; they later had three children. After Jason Boe finished his studies, they settled in Reedsport, Oregon, where he first gained political office as a member of the city council. The family moved to Salem, Oregon, for most of the year beginning in 1964, when Jason Boe was elected to the Oregon House of Representatives. Boe-Duncan worked as his secretary during his six-year term. She continued to work as his secretary for much of the period from 1970 to 1980, when he served in the Oregon Senate. Jason Boe died in 1990. Boe-Duncan had a career as a musician, beginning in the 1970s, and she performed in the Coos Bay Bach Festival for over a decade. She worked for the Oregon Historical Society from 1986 to 1989 and for Portland State University from 1989 to 1994. In 1995, she married Robert Duncan, who was also an Oregon state senator, and changed her surname to Boe-Duncan.
Forms part of the Oregon Legislature Oral History Series.
Handwritten index (4 pages) is available for in-person use at the Oregon Historical Society Research Library.
Oral history interview with Kathryn Boe-Duncan, by Jim Strassmaier, SR 1143, Oregon Historical Society Research Library.
Oral history interview with Kathryn Boe-Duncan, by Jim Strassmaier, SR 1165, Oregon Historical Society Research Library.
This oral history interview with Kathryn Boe-Duncan was conducted by Jim Strassmaier on June 29, 1993. In this interview, Boe-Duncan discusses her memories of legislative historian Cecil L. Edwards. She talks about the close relationship between Edwards and her late husband, Oregon State Senator Jason Boe; Edwards' political beliefs; Edwards' retirement in 1976; and Boe's creation of the position of legislative historian for him. She shares several anecdotes about Edwards that demonstrate his personality and discusses her own relationship with him. She closes the interview by discussing what was expected of her as a legislator's wife.
Copyright for this interview is held by the Oregon Historical Society. Use is allowed according to the following license: Creative Commons - BY-NC-SA: