| Liz VanLeeuwen | |
| State: | Oregon |
| State House: | Oregon |
| District: | 37th |
| Term Start: | 1981 |
| Term End: | 1999 |
| Party: | Republican |
| Birth Date: | 5 November 1925 |
| Birth Place: | Lakeview, Oregon, U.S. |
| Death Place: | Halsey, Oregon, U.S. |
| Profession: | Farmer |
| Alma Mater: | Oregon State University |
| Spouse: | George VanLeeuwen |
Elizabeth Susan Nelson VanLeeuwen (Nelson; November 5, 1925 – November 27, 2022) was an American politician who was a member of the Oregon House of Representatives.[1]
VanLeeuwen was born in Lakeview, Oregon, where she lived until attending Oregon State University. She received a Bachelor of Science in Home Making Education and a minor in English in 1947.[2] She married George VanLeeuwen on June 15, 1947, and was a farmer.[3] She also was a news reporter and journalist for a newspaper in Brownsville, Oregon, from 1949 to 1970.[4] [5] She was a school teacher at Monroe High School, a substitute teacher and an adult educator in the 1950s and 1960s. She had a weekly farm report radio program on KWIL in the 1970s.
VanLeeuwen was a founding member of Oregon Women for Agriculture and a member of the Oregon Farm Bureau Women's Committee and Legislative Committee before being elected to the Oregon House of Representatives.
VanLeeuwen served as a member of the Oregon House of Representatives from 1981 to 1999.
In 1999, she was elected to the Linn County Soil and Water Conservation board and held a position there.
In 2002, VanLeeuwen ran for Oregon's 4th congressional district against Peter DeFazio (D). She lost 64% to 34%.
VanLeeuwen and her husband George lived in Halsey, Oregon, and had four children. She died there on November 27, 2022, at the age of 97.[6]