Lena Ruddy Smithson
Born and raised in Chillicothe, Missouri, Lena attended the University of Missouri at Columbia. She won the Roades Clay Freshman Scholarship and decided to enter law school; she was the only woman in the school. Before completing her law degree, Lena was able to take and pass the bar exam in 1922. She went to work for a firm in Kansas City doing domestic relations law, which is all a woman could do then. She returned to school and got a bachelor’s degree in Economics in 1940. During WWII she became Dean of Women at the Chillicothe Business College. In 1945 the Governor of Missouri appointed her Superintendent of the State Training School for Girls in Chillicothe. Again she returned to school, this time receiving her master’s in Psychiatric Social Work, and worked at the state hospital in St. Joseph and a girls’ school in Kansas. Lena retired 1966 and returned to Chillicothe. For a time she served as the Livingston County Democratic Chairperson. Lena died in 1978.
Her son Lowell donated several items from her estate to the Livingston County Library and they are on display in the Smithson Room.
Her story was also submitted to the National Trust - Where Women Made History at https://savingplaces.org/where-women-made-history#shareyourplace.
Her son Lowell donated several items from her estate to the Livingston County Library and they are on display in the Smithson Room.
Her story was also submitted to the National Trust - Where Women Made History at https://savingplaces.org/where-women-made-history#shareyourplace.