Ruth Bascom
Ruth Ellen Bascom (née Fenton) was the first woman mayor of Eugene, Oregon, serving from 1993 to 1996. She was born February 4, 1926, in Ames, Iowa, to two university professors and grew up in Manhattan, Kansas. She moved to Eugene in 1960 with her husband, John U. Bascom, and they had six children.
As mayor, Bascom helped revitalize downtown Eugene. She removed a fountain that blocked traffic on Broadway and Willamette streets and created bike and pedestrian paths. The 12-mile Riverbank Trail System along the Willamette River is named after her.
On August 15, 2010, Bascom was a passenger in a car driven by her husband. He fell asleep at the wheel and crashed near Burns, Oregon. Bascom sustained serious injuries and died on August 26, 2010, at age 84 in Springfield, Oregon, from a stroke and the injuries she suffered in the crash.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 01:02 (CET).