Sen. Starr honors life of Ex-Senator Avel Gordly

Senate Republican Leader Bruce Starr Honors the Life and Legacy of Former Oregon State Senator Avel Gordly
By Oregon State Senator Bruce Starr,

SALEM, Ore. – Senate Republican Leader Bruce Starr (R–Dundee) delivered remarks on the Senate floor today honoring the life and legacy of former Oregon State Senator Avel Gordly, who passed away yesterday.

He shared the following reflections:

“There aren’t many people in this building who get to say they served alongside a legend. I’m one of the lucky ones—and so was my father.

My dad, Charles Starr, came to this Senate the same year Avel Gordly did. They sat on opposite sides of the aisle, came from different worlds, and didn’t agree on everything—but they shared this chamber, this work, and a deep respect for the institution they both loved. When I joined the Senate in 2002, Avel was already a fixture here—someone you learned from just by watching how she carried herself.

Avel Gordly was the first Black woman to serve as an Oregon state senator. She was born and raised in Portland, the daughter of a Pullman porter, and she never forgot where she came from. For nearly two decades in this Legislature, she fought to make Oregon live up to its promises—working to remove the Black exclusion laws from our state constitution, championing cultural competency in mental health and education, and reminding the rest of us, constantly, that justice isn’t abstract. It has faces and names and neighborhoods.

I didn’t always agree with Senator Gordly. That’s the nature of this work. But I always admired her. She had a moral clarity that was rare, and a warmth that made it hard to stay at a distance. Even when the debate was sharp, she never lost her grace.

OHSU named its behavioral health center after her—the Avel Gordly Center for Healing. That feels exactly right. Because that’s what she spent her life doing: healing what was broken, lifting what had been pushed down, and building something better in its place.

On behalf of my family—and I know my father would want me to say this—we are grateful to have known her, grateful to have served alongside her, and grateful that Oregon had Avel Gordly at a time when she was needed most.

May she rest in the peace she worked so hard to bring to others.”