Iowans will bid farewell to another former female legislator on Saturday, May 23.
Elaine Szymoniak, who represented the Des Moines area for more than a decade as a state senator, died this week following a recent stroke. Memorial services will take place at Holy Trinity Catholic Church in Des Moines.
Szymoniak, who was 88 at the time of her death, is the fourth former female legislator who has died in the past few months. Barb Finch, of Story County, died in a car accident in December 2008. Rosemary Thompson and Mary Lundby, both of Linn County, died in January — Mary after a long battle with cancer and Rosemary after a sudden illness.
While serving as a Democrat in the legislature from 1988 to 2000 (when she chose to retire), Szymoniak was ranking member of the Human Resources Standing Committee. She also served on the education, ethics, state government and ways & means standing committees. Many of the bills that she authored and sponsored concerned education, family welfare or care of the elderly and disabled. Her focus was not a surprise since she was born (in Wisconsin) to deaf parents and had an older brother challenged with cerebral palsy.
She received her bachelor’s degree in education and speech pathology from the University of Wisconsin. Before making her home in Iowa, she worked in public school systems in the states of Wisconsin, New York and Kansas. She also put her skills to use in the medical field, at one point working at Army Hospital Aural Rehabilitation Center in Oklahoma.
When she did come to Iowa, she spent three decades working with the state for the benefit of those with disabilities. She also enhanced her education by earning a master’s degree from Iowa State University. She served on the Des Moines City Council for 11 years, from 1978 to 1989, and then ran successfully for the Iowa Senate.
And, she did all of this while also raising five children of her own.
In 1999 when Szymoniak was inducted into the Iowa Women’s Hall of Fame, she was described as “a woman who has done it all.” She was a mother, a career woman, a volunteer and a public servant.
“She is a woman who has truly made a difference.”
