After high school she attended the University of Minnesota where she graduated in 1956 with a degree in nursing and public health education.

Eugene, whose father owned the Chevrolet dealership in Hillsboro, Oregon, was serving in the Air Defense Command when they were married.

[2] In 1980, Hamby ran against Democrat Al Young to serve District 4 in the Oregon House of Representatives.

[5] She won her primary and then again in the November election to represent District 5 and Washington County for a four-year term.

The law against corporal punishment was spurred by an incident where four adults at a private school beat an eight-year-old girl to death.

[2] Other offices she has held include as chairperson of the Western States Conference on Recycling and serving on the Hanford Waste Board.

[2] After the trip she stated the administration of U.S. President Ronald Reagan had given her "outright lies" about the Sandinistas and their activities and U.S. involvement in the region.

She also supported legislation to allow patients at the Oregon State Hospital and prisoners in the corrections system to receive visits from pets.

[16] The legislation was introduced in 1983 and would have establish guidelines where inmates and prisoners under certain conditions could receive the visits due to the pets therapeutic benefits.