Teacher, Author, Journalist, First Lady of Idaho

• As a teacher she kindled learning.
• As a writer she inspired others.
• And always she learned from her students.

Grace Jordan left an indelible mark on Idaho and led a remarkable life. She taught English, journalism and fiction writing at four Idaho universities, including Boise Junior College. Besides being an educator, she authored many books, was a free-lance journalist and created poetry.

Grace Jordan's first book Home Below Hells Canyon details the lives of the Jordan family on the Snake River Ranch where they lived during the early 1940’s. The book has been translated into six languages. Her other books include Canyon Boy, the King's Pines of Idaho, The Country Editor, and The Unintentional Senator. With the exception of The Unintentional Senator, her books are based in Idaho, and she is credited with acquainting people throughout the nation and the world with the many facets of our beloved state. Jordan was also influential in forming the Idaho Writer's League, and helped sponsor a short story contest from which she published the Idaho Reader.

Jordan was born in Wasco, Oregon on April 16, 1892, daughter of a country doctor and a school teacher. She received a Bachelor of Arts degree with honors in English from the University of Oregon, along with a Phi Beta Kappa key.

She free-lanced for many northwest newspapers after college and worked as the society editor for the Eugene Morning Register and as a correspondent for the Lewiston Tribune. She married Leonard B. Jordan on December 30, 1924, and moved to a ranch at Kirkwood Bar on the Idaho side of the Snake River in 1933 with their three children.

Her husband served in the Idaho State Senate, U.S. Senate, and was elected Governor of Idaho in 1950. Grace Jordan served with distinction as Idaho's first lady from 1950 through 1954.

When Grace Jordan died on September 20, 1985 in Boise she left behind a lasting legacy and many happy memories. Her daughter wrote that her mother firmly believed in goal setting and staying with those goals. Her daughter is quoted as saying, "She encouraged us, and people around her, to always look for the best in everyone your life touches. She wanted everyone to live a life that may be a light unto the world around them and to encourage others to do likewise."