[8] Nancy Ryles served on the Beaverton school board from 1972 to 1978,[4] as well as on the State Advisory Council for Career and Vocational Education.

[9] Ryles was elected to the Oregon House of Representatives in 1978,[7] succeeding Tom Marsh,[1] and serving what was then House District 5 (but which became District 7 after a legislative reapportionment plan approved by the Oregon Legislature in 1981).

[4] She was proud of the passage of a 1981 bill mandating public kindergartens in Oregon, which built on work begun by then-legislator Betty Roberts in 1965.

[4] She co-chaired a Senate Task Force in 1985 and 1986 which attempted to pass aid in dying legislation; the legislative efforts were unsuccessful, but were an important precursor to the passage of the Oregon Death with Dignity Act in 1994.

[4][7] She was still serving on the state's Public Utility Commission at the time, her term due to end on March 31, 1991.