Ellen Story

Abstract

I moved to Amherst with a husband and two little boys in August of 1972. My husbands first job was teaching in the History Department at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst [UMass] and he has taught there since. The first year that we were here I stayed home with the two little boys. But one year was enough! The second year Leslie Laurie, the wife of another history professor, Bruce Laurie, was starting up the Family Planning Council of Western Massachusetts. I decided that I wanted to go to work part-time and at the last minute I applied for a job and I started with the agency on September 4, 1973.

Ellen Story was raised in Texas. She has a B.A. from the University of Texas and a Master’s degree from Cambridge College. She moved to Massachusetts in 1970 and in 1972 moved to Amherst. Where her husband Ron Story is Professor of History at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst. She worked with the Family Planning Council of Western Massachusetts, later Tapestry Health, from 1973 to 1990, when she ran for the Massachusetts State House. She still serves as State Representative for the Third Hampshire District, and is known as an effective crusader for women’s issues, public education, labor, the environment, and human service programs. She was recognized as 2001 Legislator of the Year by both the Women’s Bar Association and the Parent/Professional Advocacy League, and as Legislator of the Year in 2002 by both the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill and Girls Incorporated.

Ellen Story was interviewed by David Cline on January 23, 2004.