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PORTLAND (AP) -- Pioneering Oregon Republican Norma Paulus, who was the first woman elected to statewide office, has died. Paulus died Thursday after spending time in hospice for health problems related to dementia, according to Kerry Tymchuk, a longtime friend of Paulus who succeeded her as director of the Oregon historical society. Paulus was 85. "She was a pathbreaker and a history-maker," Tymchuk told the Oregonian/OregonLive. Paulus was a member of the Legislature, Oregon's secretary of state from 1977 to 1985, her party's nominee for governor in 1986 and the state's elected superintendent of schools for two terms in the 1990s. Fiscally conservative, Paulus was a feminist and environmentalist who crafted bipartisan legislation with Democratic women in the House in the 1970s and championed the auditor's role in the secretary of state's office. As the state's top elections official, she helped bring about a fair election when the Rajneeshees tried in 1984 to bus in homeless people to hijack a Wasco County election. And she first instituted vote by mail in Oregon, backing its use in normally low-turnout special elections. As an environmentalist, she required recycling in state office buildings, wrote legislation to limit the use of off-road vehicles on state lands and, according to her autobiography, played a key role in preserving Cape Kiwanda as a state-owned natural area. Paulus grew up in Depression-era poverty in eastern Oregon, didn't go to college but landed a secretary job through a hometown connection and then worked for the chief justice of the Oregon Supreme Court. Eventually she was admitted to law school at Willamette University where she studied part-time while continuing her secretarial job. While in law school, she married and gave birth to a daughter before graduating with honors in 1962. She won a seat in the Oregon House of Representatives representing Salem in 1970, at a time when the Legislature had only a handful of women. Republican Sen. Jackie Winters of Salem said in a statement that Paulus was a role model. "She paved the way for so many women in Oregon as the first Republican woman elected to statewide office, Winters said. "She was a trailblazer and a true force to be reckoned with. Norma was a neighbor, a dear friend, a mentor, an inspiration, and a true servant to all Oregonians. I will miss her deeply." Paulus also was a founding member of the Oregon Women's Political Caucus and helped push the Equal Rights Amendment in Oregon. Paulus' autobiography, written largely by Gail Wills and Pat McCord Amacher after Paulus' health and memory began to fail, is titled "The Only Woman in the Room." As a legislator and secretary of state, she often literally was the only woman in whatever hall of power she occupied, said Tymchuk.