Ruth Kempner Obituary: Houston Chronicle

(Ruth Kempner, my mother's mother's sister's daughter, who spent some months staying with Mom's & Mimi's family in the 1930's, when her parents wanted to break off an unsuitable relationship, died over the summer. I only met her a few times; only heard her speak publicly at a memorial service for her brother, Marion Jr. She & Harris had two sons, one of whom -- Sandy--died in Vietnam. Harris and Ruth collected Sandy's letters and published them privately -- a couple often get quoted. I wish I'd known her better.)

GALVESTON - A memorial service is scheduled today for Ruth Levy Kempner, the first woman
elected to a governmental post in Galveston and the influential matriarch of one of the
island's oldest and most distinguished families.

Kempner died Monday at the age of 90 in her home. She was instrumental in changing government from the city commission form to the city-manager-run charter government in 1960 and remained a force in Galveston politics until the end, friends and relatives say. Kempner was known for her direct style in politics, tempered by her graciousness and selfless efforts to help those in need.

"One of the pillars has been knocked down," said Jan Coggeshall, elected Galveston's first female mayor in 1984. "She's been a pillar for 60 years." She was mentor to Coggeshall and the current mayor, her niece, Lyda Ann Thomas.

Kempner was born Nov. 26, 1917, in Galveston, the daughter of Marion J. and Alma L. Levy. An early feminist, she graduated from the University of Texas with honors in 1937, "majoring in history and minoring in government at a time when proper young ladies daring enough to demand a college education were at least expected to limit their studies to home economics or education," according to Galveston, a History of the Island, by Gary Cartwright.

In 1939, she married Harris "Bush" Kempner, a Harvard graduate who ran the family cotton interests as his uncle ran the banking business and Harris Kempner's brother ran Imperial Sugar, Cartwright said. Ruth Kempner became head of the local Red Cross chapter and worked tirelessly to care for the injured after a ship carrying ammonium nitrate fertilizer exploded in Texas City in 1947, killing hundreds. "She was one of the first people across the causeway to help," said Frances K. Harris, Kempner's friend since they were school girls.

In 1960, Kempner and Harris, then president of the local League of Women Voters, defied incumbent politicians, men's civic clubs, the Chamber of Commerce, the local newspaper and nearly the entire business community by campaigning for a charter government, according to Cartwright. The two women mobilized voter support for a referendum on replacing the commission form of government and its questionable practices, Harris recalled. "She and I spoke with organizations all over the community, including the red-light district and the unions," Harris said.

After the form of government changed, Kempner was elected to the City Council, becoming the first woman to hold an elective office in the city. Dr. Jack Wallace, a friend for nearly 50 years, said Kempner raised money for a mobile mammography unit after discovering how difficult it was to get checked for breast cancer. She realized that a mobile unit was needed to ensure that the poor and uninsured could receive mammograms, Wallace said. "That mobile mammography unit was a reality in a year."

She is survived by her son, Harris L. Kempner Jr. and two grandsons.