LADIES' GALLERY

Esther Hardy began a teaching career at the age of 17 in a county school; later she was a classroom teacher and principal for 25 years at Hayes Elementary School in Fremont, Ohio. She went to college during the summers of her early teaching years in Sandusky county and obtained degrees from Bowling Green State University and The Ohio State University.

Her first attempt to run for political office was her campaign for the state legislature in 1948, and she was elected for three consecutive terms to the Ohio House of Representatives. During her last term in the Ohio House, Governor Frank Lausche appointed her to a four-year term on the Ohio Liquor Control Board. The bipartisan board dealt with questions of regulation enforcement and decided cases of violation complaints. Hardy was later reappointed in 1957, and became the second woman to chair this powerful board.

Biography courtesy of the Ohio Women's Policy and Research Commission