Helen Day Stevenson Meyner, also known as Helen S. Meyner (March 5, 1929 – November 2, 1997) was a Democratic

Democratic Party (United States)

The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...

 U.S. Representative from New Jersey

New Jersey

New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...

 from 1975 to 1979.

Biography

She was born as Helen Stevenson on March 5, 1929 in Queens

Queens

Queens is the easternmost of the five boroughs of New York City. The largest borough in area and the second-largest in population, it is coextensive with Queens County, an administrative division of New York state, in the United States....

, New York

New York

New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

. Her father was an Olympic gold medal winner and ambassador William Stevenson

William Stevenson (athlete)

William Edwards Stevenson was an American track and field athlete, lawyer and diplomat, who won the gold medal in 4x400 m relay at the 1924 Summer Olympics and later served as president of Oberlin College....

. She was a distant cousin of Democratic candidate for President Adlai Stevenson.

She graduated from Colorado College

Colorado College

The Colorado College is a private liberal arts college in Colorado Springs, Colorado, United States, in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains. It was founded in 1874 by Thomas Nelson Haskell...

 and married New Jersey Governor

Governor of New Jersey

The Office of the Governor of New Jersey is the executive branch for the U.S. state of New Jersey. The office of Governor is an elected position, for which elected officials serve four year terms. While individual politicians may serve as many terms as they can be elected to, Governors cannot be...

 Robert B. Meyner

Robert B. Meyner

Robert Baumle Meyner of Phillipsburg, New Jersey was an American Democratic Party politician, who served as the 44th Governor of New Jersey, from 1954 to 1962...

.

In 1972, Meyner ran as the Democratic nominee for Representative from New Jersey's newly redistricted 13th Congressional District that included her home in Phillipsburg

Phillipsburg, New Jersey

Phillipsburg, known locally as P'burg, is a town in Warren County, New Jersey, in the United States. As of 2010 United States Census, the town's population was 14,950....

 and included Hunterdon

Hunterdon County, New Jersey

Hunterdon County is a county located in the western section of the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2010 United States Census, the population was 128,349. It is part of the New York Metropolitan Area. Its county seat is Flemington....

, Sussex

Sussex County, New Jersey

The County of Sussex is the northernmost county in the State of New Jersey. It is part of the New York City Metropolitan Area. As of the 2010 Federal decennial census, 149,265 persons resided in Sussex County...

 and Warren

Warren County, New Jersey

Warren County is a county located in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2010 Census, the population was 108,692. Its county seat is Belvidere...

 Counties and portions of Mercer

Mercer County, New Jersey

As of the census of 2000, there were 350,761 people, 125,807 households, and 86,303 families residing in the county. The population density was 1,552 people per square mile . There were 133,280 housing units at an average density of 590 per square mile...

 and Morris

Morris County, New Jersey

Morris County is a county located in the U.S. state of New Jersey, about west of New York City. According to the United States 2010 Census, the population was 492,276. It is part of the New York Metropolitan Area. Its county seat is Morristown....

 Counties. She lost in the Republican

Republican Party (United States)

The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...

-leaning district, to the Republican candidate, Joseph J. Maraziti

Joseph J. Maraziti

Joseph James Maraziti was a U.S. Representative from New Jersey.-Biography:Born in Boonton, New Jersey, Maraziti attended the public schools....

. In 1974, with the Watergate scandal

Watergate scandal

The Watergate scandal was a political scandal during the 1970s in the United States resulting from the break-in of the Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Watergate office complex in Washington, D.C., and the Nixon administration's attempted cover-up of its involvement...

 leading to Democratic congressional gains throughout the country, Meyner ran for the seat again, this time beating Maraziti. She won a second term in the 1976 elections in a close race against William E. Schluter

William E. Schluter

William Everett "Bill" Schluter is an American Republican Party politician from New Jersey, who served in both houses of the New Jersey Legislature....

, but lost her bid for a third term in 1978 to Republican James A. Courter.

Meyner's work before entering politics included a career as a print and television journalist and work for the American Red Cross

American Red Cross

The American Red Cross , also known as the American National Red Cross, is a volunteer-led, humanitarian organization that provides emergency assistance, disaster relief and education inside the United States. It is the designated U.S...

.

She died on November 2, 1997 in Fort Myers, Florida

Fort Myers, Florida

Fort Myers is the county seat and commercial center of Lee County, Florida, United States. Its population was 62,298 in the 2010 census, a 29.23 percent increase over the 2000 figure....

.

Sources