Women in the United States Senate After retiring from the Senate, she married former Senator Howard Baker (R-TN). Kassebaum has the distinction of being the first female elected senator who did not succeed her husband in Congress (Margaret Chase Smith was only elected to the Senate after succeeding her husband to his House seat). At the time of her retirement in 1997, Kassebaum was the second longest serving female senator, after Smith (Since 1997 five women have had Senate careers longer than Kassebaum's). The first woman in the Senate was Rebecca Latimer Felton, who served representing Georgia for only one day in 1922. Hattie Caraway became
US Sen. Hattie Caraway Gravesite US Sen. Hattie Caraway Gravesite The US Sen. Hattie Caraway Gravesite is located in Oaklawn Cemetery on the west side of Jonesboro, Arkansas. It is the only surviving site in Arkansas associated with the life of Hattie Caraway (1878-1950), the first woman to be elected to a full term in the United States Senate. The gravesite consists of a family headstone, simply engraved "Caraway", and three footstones: one for the senator, one for her husband Thaddeus, whom she succeeded in the Senate, and their son Robert. The site is located on the western central edge of the cemetery. The gravesite