Notable Women Who Died in 2006

By Jone Johnson Lewis, About.com Guide

October 2: Helen Chenoweth-Hage

Darling of conservatives and scorned by environmentalists, Helen Chenoweth-Hage was a three-term Congressional Representative from Idaho.

October 7: Anna Politkovskaya

The death of an investigative journalist raised questions about the current state of human rights in Russia.

October 7: Winifred Bennett

She proposed the use of DNA testing to establish whether Thomas Jefferson was related to the children of Sally Hemings.

• Winifred Bennett, 71, Is Dead; Proposed Jefferson DNA Tests
• Sally Hemings

October 20: Jane Wyatt

Actress Jane Wyatt was known for roles from that of the love interest in Lost Horizon to the mother in Father Knows Best, a 1950s TV classic, and to Mr. Spock's mother on the original series of Star Trek.

• Jane Wyatt and Edgar Ward Marriage Profile

October 23: Dr. Jane Elizabeth Hodgson

The only person convicted of performing an abortion in a hospital, Dr. Hodgson was an obstetrician and gynecologist who, in 1970, terminated the pregnancy of a woman who'd been infected with rubella (measles). After Roe v. Wade, her conviction was overturned.