Former legislator Ethel Harding dies at 83

Former Republican state Sen. Ethel Harding of Polson, who voted against a bill that would have required the governor to appoint more women and minorities to state boards and commissions, has died.

Grogan Funeral Home says Harding died Friday at age 83. The funeral home did not give a cause of death.

Harding served as Lake County Clerk and Recorder from 1966 through 1984, when she ran for state Senate and became the first woman elected to the Legislature from Lake County.

She voted against the 1991 bill to require the appointment of more women and minorities, saying such appointments should be meritorious.

“I’d rather get someplace myself,” Harding said at the time, “without any mandate saying you’ve got to put me there.”

Former Montana House Speaker John Mercer said Harding had a steady hand and worked well with others.

“She was very solid in terms of her convictions and beliefs in her conservative positions, but at the same time she looked after everyone. She cared about them as individuals, and it didn’t matter what their political positions were,” Mercer said.

In 1974, Harding’s 23-year-old daughter, Lana, was raped and murdered by Duncan McKenzie.

After numerous appeals prolonged his execution, McKenzie sat on death row longer than any other inmate in the United States.

He was executed by legal injection in May 1995. Harding did not attend the execution, saying she had forgiven McKenzie years earlier.

Harding, a supporter of the death penalty, said Harding owed society, but not her.

“I can’t reverse what happened,” Harding said in 1996. “If I could, I would. I can’t afford to be bitter.”

Soon after making those comments, Harding retired after serving three terms in the Senate and began a children’s ministry in Pablo.

Harding was born in 1927 in Fishtail in south-central Montana and grew up on farms in the Billings area. She married Warren G. Harding in 1943. She was preceded in death by him and her daughter. She is survived by son Greg, of Ronan, and his family.

A memorial service was held Sunday.