Elizabeth Hughes

Cari Beauchamp (“A Bigger Piece of the Pie? Feminism Sought New Recipe,” Commentary, June 28) was inaccurate in writing that Leona Egeland, elected to the state Assembly in 1974, was “the first woman to be elected without first replacing a dead husband.” My grandmother, Elizabeth Hughes, was elected in her own right to the 7th District (Butte County) in 1918, and reelected in 1920. Her husband and my grandfather, James Boaz Hughes, was principal of Oroville High School from 1909 to 1930, and never held elective office. (Three other women were also elected to the Assembly in 1918--10 months before nationwide women’s suffrage. California women could vote in 1911.)

Yes, the feminists of the 1970s have helped to make a big difference in changing the “recipe” of the political process; but let’s not forget the pioneers who campaigned against far longer cultural odds.

EVELYN HUGHES MASLAC

Culver City