Grattan Kerans | |
---|---|
Member of the Oregon State Senate | |
In office 1986–1993 |
|
Succeeded by | Pete Sorenson |
Constituency | Lane County |
56th Speaker of the Oregon House of Representatives | |
In office 1983–1984 |
|
Preceded by | Hardy Myers |
Succeeded by | Vera Katz |
Constituency | Lane County |
Member of the Oregon House of Representatives |
|
In office 1974–1984 |
|
Constituency | Lane County |
Personal details | |
Born |
Washington, D. C. |
January 2, 1941
Political party | Democratic |
Profession | Politician |
Grattan Kerans (born January 2, 1941) is an American politician from Oregon. He was a member of the Oregon Legislative Assembly in the House of Representatives from 1974 through 1984, and in the Oregon State Senate from 1986 to 1993. He held the position of Speaker of the House during the 1983 legislative session.
Grattan Kerans was born January 2, 1941 in Washington, DC, the son of Edwin Grattan Kerans and the former Anne Kelley. His father was a dentist for the Veterans Administration and his mother a lawyer. Grattan Kerans' unusual first name was in honor of a grandfather who had been a prominent official in the Democratic Party and who had worked in the presidential administration of Franklin D. Roosevelt.
Kerans attended public schools in Maryland and following graduation attended Montgomery College in Rockville, Maryland.
In 1965 Kerans married the former Janet Raye Holsclaw. The couple would have one child, a son. He worked as a shoe salesman, a warehouse employee, and a taxi driver during his younger years.
In 1969 Kerans moved to the American West, relocating to attend the University of Oregon to study political science. Kerans became the editor of the campus daily newspaper of the University of Oregon, the Oregon Daily Emerald, serving in that position from 1970 to 1971. Following graduation he would take his editorial capability to the world of politics, becoming editor of the Oregon Democrat Magazine, a publication of the Democratic Party of Oregon.
In November 1974, Kerans won election to the Oregon House of Representatives from Lane County, a position he would continue to hold through five terms of office. During his 10-year career in the Oregon House, Kerans would serve as Chair of the Elections Committee and Rules Committee, and as the floor whip for the majority Democrats. In 1983, Kerans was elected by his peers as the Speaker of the House for the biennial legislative session held in that year.