On August 18, 1969, Seattle City Council president Myrtle Edwards (1894-1969) dies from injuries sustained in an automobile accident the day before.
Myrtle Edwards served on the Seattle City Council from 1955 to 1969, and in March 1969 became president of the council. She carried out her work in public life within the League of Women Voters, the Greater Seattle Council of Churches, the Municipal League, and Seattle Beautiful, Inc., which promoted public parks, boulevard plantings, and programs that enhanced neighborhood beautification.
A stunned city mourned her death, and Myrtle Edwards Park, on the north end of the Seattle waterfront, on Elliott Bay, was named in her honor. On September 8, 1969, University District clothier Ray Eckman was appointed to the Seattle City Council to fill out her term.
Sources:
Walt Crowley, Rites of Passage: A Memoir of the Sixties in Seattle (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1995), 273.
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