Education
She graduated from Whitman in 1963, with a Music degree.
She graduated from Whitman in 1963, with a Music degree.
She served in the legislature from 1977-1982, the Multnomah County Commission from 1985-1991, and the Portland City Council from 1991-1998. The couple moved to Portland in 1965, but soon afterward they joined the Peace Corps, and Gretchen Kafoury spent two years in Iran, teaching English as a Peace Corps volunteer. Kafoury co-founded the Oregon chapter of the National Organization for Women (National Organization for Women) in 1970 and the Oregon Women"s Political Caucus in 1971.
In 1972, she was one of a small group of women (also including Mildred Schwab) who protested the City Club of Portland"s policy excluding women members, effecting a change in the club"s policy of more than fifty years.
She was elected to the Portland City Council in 1990, and served on the council from 1991 to 1998. Beginning in 1999, Kafoury was an instructor at Portland State University, teaching classes related to homelessness, poverty, and community development.
She died on March 13, 2015, aged 72, of natural causes at her Portland home.