They made their mark. Now efforts are underway to rename Olympia and Tumwater sites after these women.
A park in Olympia and a post office in Tumwater could soon be renamed in honor of two women who made their mark in those places.
A resolution to rename Olympia’s Marathon Park after Joan Benoit Samuelson passed the state Senate on Tuesday and now heads to the House.
Samuelson qualified for the Olympics by winning the first-ever women’s Olympic marathon trials in Olympia in May 1984. The race started and ended in Marathon Park, which on the west side of Capitol Lake and part of the Capitol Campus.
She went on to win the first women’s Olympic marathon in Los Angeles that year.
The resolution was introduced by Sens. Sam Hunt of Olympia and Claire Wilson of Auburn. Hunt said renaming the park Joan Benoit Samuelson Marathon Park would commemorate a “milestone in sports history” as well as encourage girls and women to participate in sports.
His office said Samuelson is expected to be in in Olympia in May to celebrate the 35th anniversary of the race.
Also on Tuesday, U.S. Rep. Denny Heck re-introduced a bill to rename the post office on Israel Road Southeast in Tumwater to honor the city’s first female postmaster.
Eva G. Hewitt was postmaster from 1915 until she retired in 1942, making her the longest-serving Tumwater postmaster at the time. She also was a local historian and owned and managed a drug store after her husband died.
Heck first introduced the bill in October and reintroduced it in honor of Women’s History Month.
