ST. LOUIS — Former U.S. Sen. Jean Carnahan, the first woman elected to represent Missouri in the Senate, died Tuesday evening after a brief illness, according to her family. She was 90 years old.
Carnahan, the widow of Missouri's 51st governor, Democrat Mel Carnahan, became the first woman to represent Missouri in the Senate after she was appointed to the seat that her husband posthumously won in 2000.
“Mom passed peacefully after a long and rich life," her family said in a statement. "She was a fearless trailblazer. She was brilliant, creative, compassionate and dedicated to her family and her fellow Missourians.”
On Oct. 16, 2000, Mel Carnahan, their son, Roger, and Carnahan's aide, Chris Sifford, were killed in a plane crash on the way to a campaign event in southeast Missouri. Missouri law did not allow his name to be removed from the ballot, and acting Gov. Roger Wilson promised he would appoint Jean to her late husband's seat if he were to win the upcoming election.
Three weeks after his death, Mel Carnahan posthumously won the seat, and Wilson appointed Jean Carnahan in his place. She served from Jan. 3, 2001, to Nov. 25, 2002.
“I know I did not come to the U.S. Senate in the same way you did," Jean Carnahan told other newly-elected senators in her remarks. "I did not have a long-term, personal commitment to a campaign. My name has never been on a ballot. On election night, there was no victory celebration. You are here because of your win. I am here because of my loss. But we are all here to do the work of this great nation.”
Carnahan will be buried next to her husband and son after a private family service at Carson Hill Cemetery near Ellsinore.
A public memorial service will be held at 10 a.m. on Saturday, Feb. 10, at the Sheldon Concert Hall at 3648 Washington Ave. in St. Louis. More details will be forthcoming, a family spokesperson said.
In lieu of flowers, Carnahan's family encouraged memorial contributions to the Carnahan Policy Institute, which sponsors the Mel Carnahan Public Service Award and Scholarship.