Joan Bray


Joan Bray is a former teacher, journalist, and union leader. She was a Democratic member of both the Missouri House of Representatives and Missouri State Senate. She resides with her husband, Carl Hoagland, in St. Louis, Missouri. She has two children, Noel and Kolby.
Bray was born in Lubbock, Texas, and graduated from Southwestern University with a B.A. in English, and from the University of Massachusetts Amherst with a C.A.G.S.. She was a teacher in Colorado and Massachusetts. She has also was a journalist with the San Antonio Express-News and St. Louis Post-Dispatch, during which time she served as vice-president of the Newspaper Guild's Local 49.
Bray was first elected to the Missouri House of Representatives in 1992, and served in that body through 2002, when she was elected to the Missouri State Senate. She was term-limited out in 2010, when she was replaced by Republican John Lamping.
In the Senate, she served on the following committees:
Bray was appointed interim executive director of Consumers Council of Missouri in March 2013.