Grace Edgington Jordan (April 16, 1892–September 20, 1985) was an American writer and journalist who wrote primarily about her adopted home state of Idaho. She was the wife of former Idaho governor and United States Senator Leonard B. Jordan.
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Born Grace Edgington in Wasco, Oregon in 1892 to a doctor and a schoolteacher, she graduated with an honors degree in English from the University of Oregon.[1] Following graduation, she worked as a journalist in Eugene and Lewiston, Idaho.
On December 30, 1924, she married Len Jordan. In 1933, the Jordans and their three children moved to a ranch in Hells Canyon along the Snake River in Idaho. In 1947, Len was elected to the Idaho Senate; in 1950, he was elected Governor of Idaho, and the family moved to Boise, Idaho where she served as First Lady of Idaho.
In 1954, Jordan's first book, Home Below Hells Canyon was published. The book, a memoir of her time along the Snake River, has since been translated into several languages and remains her best-known work.[2] Several other books about Idaho life followed and Jordan wrote poetry and taught creative writing at several Idaho universities.[1] In 1962, Len was appointed to the U. S. Senate to complete the term of Henry Dworshak, who had died. Len was subsequently elected to a full term and the Jordans relocated to Washington D.C. until his retirement in 1972. Grace Jordan's book The Unintentional Senator describes this time in their life.[2]
The Jordans returned to Boise, where she died in 1985, two years after her husband.[2] Grace Jordan School in the Boise School District is named in her honor.[1]
Home Below Hells Canyon (1954) (ISBN 0803251076)
Canyon Boy (1960)
The King’s Pines of Idaho (1961)
The Unintentional Senator (1972)
The Country Editor (1976)