Virginia Brockington Gourdin, the first woman from Charleston to serve in the state Legislature, died Saturday. She was 88. Gourdin was born in Kingstree and grew up farming cotton, tobacco, and pine trees.

Virginia Brockington Gourdin She came to Charleston in 1950 after earning degrees from Winthrop College, the University of South Carolina, and Columbia University. She also studied at the University of Virginia and the University of California, Berkeley.

Gourdin worked as a librarian at the Harvard Graduate Business School and taught high school in Beaufort and Charleston, and in USC's English Department.

It was her election to the State House in 1958 that focused attention on her. Only the fifth woman to serve in the General Assembly, and the first from Charleston County, she walked into a world controlled by some of the most famous names in 20th century South Carolina politics including House Speaker Solomon Blatt, future Gov. Robert McNair, and Sen. Marion Gressette.

Gourdin held her own, blasting her colleagues for wasteful spending and campaigning to investigate communist activity in the state. She was publicly critical of having state judges elected by a legislature dominated by attorneys who practice before those judges.

After two terms, Gourdin had had enough and chose not to seek a third. "I was discouraged by the lack of public participation in politics. At the end of four years, I was quite fatigued and quite discouraged," Gourdin

told The News and

Courier in 1984. "But I was effective in showing that women could serve in the Legislature. Once I got there, I had no opposition."

After Gourdin's service in the Legislature, she returned to Charleston and remained active in various groups. She was a member of the National Society of Colonial Dames, the Daughters of the American Revolution, and the First Families of South Carolina. She was a member of the Huguenot Society, and proud of her heritage. Gourdin was interested in history and genealogy.

She is survived by a brother, Peter Gaillard Gourdin of Kingstree, nephew Theodore Gourdin of Charleston, and niece Gail Gourdin Evans of Kingstree. Her relatives in Columbia include Warner M. Montgomery, Mimi M. Maddock, and the John Gregg McMaster family.

Graveside services for Virginia Gourdin were held Wednesday at the Huguenot Church in Charleston.

Contributed by The Post and Courier