1. Ramona Lee Etta Barnes was a Republican politician in the state of Alaska.
19 Facts About Ramona Barnes
1. 2.
Ramona Barnes served in the Alaska House of Representatives for two periods spanning 1979 and 1985 and 1987 and 2001.
3.
Ramona Barnes was the first female Speaker of the House in Alaska.
4.
Ramona Barnes attended Bledsoe County High School in Tennessee and Waipahu Community College in Hawaii before graduating from Michigan State University.
5.
Ramona Barnes married Larry Barnes in 1960, who was in the military, and the couple had three children: Randall, Michael and Michelle.
6.
Ramona Barnes served as an undercover agent for the Central Intelligence Agency in the Philippines.
7.
Ramona Barnes managed a beauty shop and salon, was president of the Arctic Research Consultants, Inc, and served on the school board of the Elmendorf Air Force Base between 1973 and 1976 before getting involved in politics.
8.
Ramona Barnes was a delegate to the 1976 and 1978 Republican state conventions and was a member of the precinct committee.
9.
Ramona Barnes was a director of the Anchorage Community Mental Health Center and the Alaska Blood Bank.
10.
Ramona Barnes was first elected to the Alaska House of Representatives in 1978.
11.
Ramona Barnes lost re-election to Marco Pignalberi in 1984 but she was re-elected in the 1986 general election.
12.
Ramona Barnes was the first woman in the state to hold every leadership position in the House, serving as majority leader in 1983, chair of the judiciary and legislative ethics committees and minority whip in 1991 and minority leader in 1992.
13.
Ramona Barnes was the first female Speaker of the House in Alaska.
14.
Ramona Barnes was known for her tough stance, evidenced by the President of the Alaska Senate gifting her a set of brass balls.
15.
Ramona Barnes was a social conservative who was focused on developing oil and gas in the state.
16.
Ramona Barnes was a member of the Anchorage Republican Women's Club, the National Federation of Republican Women, the Navy League and the National Rifle Association of America.
17.
Ramona Barnes was a member of the Alaskan delegation at the 2000 Republican National Convention.
18.
Ramona Barnes died on November 26,2003, at the Providence Alaska Medical Center in Anchorage, from pneumonia caused by cancer.
19.
Ramona Barnes's papers are held by the University of Alaska Anchorage.