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EXCEPTIONAL WOMEN
Tuesday, April 30, 2013
State Rep. Shemia Fagan says former Oregon Gov. Tom McCall is a wonderful role model in her life.
She keeps a famous Statesman Journal photo of him serving ice cream to Keizer Elementary School
students on her desk.
W
hen she was in fourth grade, Sh-
emia Fagan’s big brothers hoist-
ed her on their shoulders,
raised the trophy she had won
and proudly proclaimed, “My sister is the
chess champion!”
It was 1992 in Dufur, a rural farming com-
munity in Wasco County, and a pivotal mo-
ment for Fagan. That year, she had grappled
with her mom’s drug addiction and felt on the
verge of acting out.
After playing chess for three years and
joining her teacher’s after-school program at
Dufur Elementary School, she had become
one of Oregon’s Scholastic Chess Champions.
“For the first time, I knew it didn’t matter
that I didn’t have what other kids had in their
lives,” Fagan said. “I wasn’t exactly the kid
you would pick out
of a lineup of who
was going to suc-
ceed, but I worked
hard. I grew up
poor and certainly
know the life I live
now I could have
never imagined living when I was 10 years
old.”
Twenty-one years later, on a beautiful April
afternoon at the state Capitol, Fagan de-
scribes her journey to becoming a state repre-
sentative.
On her desk is a photo coffee mug with im-
ages of her son, Alton, and a famous States-
man-Journal photo of a politician she greatly
admires, former Gov. TomMcCall, serving ice
cream to Keizer Elementary School students.
Last November, Fagan was elected to repre-
sent House District 51, an area spanning from
Southeast 122nd Avenue in East Portland to
family farms in Boring.
Fagan, 31, who lives near Powell Butte, also
is an associate business attorney with Ater
Wynne LLP in Portland, a school board mem-
ber for the David Douglas School District and
the proud mom of 7-month-old Alton.
“Whether they’re in East Multnomah
County or Eastern Oregon, I’d tell young
women the sky really is the limit,” Fagan said.
“Things that may seem like obstacles or
things that seem different in their families
from other families really can be overcome if
they’re willing to work hard.”
After receiving her bachelor’s degree at
Northwest Nazarene University in Nampa,
Idaho, in 2003, Fagan went on to law school,
graduating cum laude from Lewis & Clark
Law School in 2009.
Fagan spent two semesters as a high school
teacher and volunteered as a guest speaker at
schools across the region, teaching students
basics of the American justice system.
Along with regularly offering pro bono le-
gal work, she joins neighbors painting over
neighborhood graffiti and planting flowers
along the Springwater Trail.
As a freshman legislator, Fagan serves on
three committees — education, business and
labor — and as vice chairwoman of the Veter-
ans Affairs and Emergency Preparedness
Committee.
Most recently, she’s become a fierce advo-
cate for sidewalk construction and safety af-
ter Morgan Maynard-Cook, a 5-year-old girl,
was hit and killed by a car Feb. 28, on South-
east 136th Avenue.
She wears a pin on the lapel of her business
jacket with an image of a light purple pedes-
trian in honor of Morgan.
“Certainly going forward, and knowing
there are many other families on those
streets, it’s going to be one of those things
that I hope defines me,” Fagan said. “Every-
one knows it’s sad to lose a kid, but when
you’re a mom, there’s an additional level of in-
tensity with which you experience those
events. I can’t imagine losing my son. That
has spurred me to fight on behalf of that fami-
ly. The family told me her life meant every-
thing to them. Her death needs to mean
something, too.
House representative takes
lessons from her father;
is a erce advocate
for East County
■
Life doesn’t get any busier — or better
Fagan grew up in rural Eastern Oregon and spent
some of her childhood in East Multnomah County.
She says she loves Oregon and plans to make it
her home for the rest of her life.
OH MOMMA!
See FAGAN / next page
Story by Lisa K.
Anderson
Photos by Jim Clark