Edith Nourse Rogers

Edith Nourse Rogers was an American social welfare volunteer and politician who was one of the first women to serve in the United States Congress. She was the first woman elected to Congress from Massachusetts. Until 2012, she was the longest serving Congresswoman, now having been surpassed by Barbara Mikulski, and in heryears in the House of Representatives she was a powerful voice for veterans and sponsored seminal legislation, including the Servicemens Readjustment Act of 1944 , which provided educational and financial benefits for soldiers returning home from World War II, the 1942 bill that created the Womens Army Auxiliary Corps , and the 1943 bill that created the Womens Army Corps . She was also instrumental in bringing federal appropriations to her constituency, Massachusettss 5th congressional district.

Edith Nourse was born on March 19, 1881 in Saco, Maine to Franklin T. Nourse, the manager of a textile mill, and Edith France Riversmith, who volunteered with the Christian church and social causes. Both parents were from old New England families, and were able to have their daughter privately tutored until she was fourteen. Edith Nourse then attended and graduated from Rogers Hall School, a private boarding school for girls in Lowell, Massachusetts, and then Madame Juliens School, a finishing school at Neuilly in Paris, France.

Source: Wikipedia