Frank Reeves

Last updated
Frank Reeves
Member of the WashingtonHouseofRepresentatives
from the 56th district
In office
January 11, 1915 –January 8, 1917
Personal details
Died(1933-01-26)January 26, 1933
Olympia, Washington, U.S.
Political party Democratic
Spouse Belle Reeves

Frank Reeves (died January 26, 1933) was an American newspaper publisher and Democratic politician from Washington. [1] He is perhaps best remembered as the husband of Belle Reeves, who succeeded him in the Legislature before becoming the first female Washington Secretary of State in 1938 upon her appointment by Governor Clarence Martin [2] (and just the second woman to hold statewide elective office in Washington, [3] after Josephine Preston). Frank died while cheering on Belle in a floor fight as she sought to maintain support for prohibition in the state House of Representatives in 1933. [3]

Contents

Early life

Frank met his future wife, then Anna Belle Culp, after her family moved when she was 17 to Geneseo, Kansas, where he was a local newspaper publisher; they married in 1888. [3] In 1889, they moved to Spokane and lost a baby in childbirth. [3]

Seeking opportunity in the gold and silver mines outside Coeur d'Alene, they moved to Idaho, but found little success and in 1890 lost another baby. [3] They taught for a year in Post Falls, Idaho, until they had saved enough to move to Ellensburg, Washington. [3] There, they founded Ellensburg's first newspaper, with Belle working as a printer's devil and hand-setting all the type. [3]

1891 saw the birth of their first surviving child, daughter Zelma, as well as their move to Wenatchee, Washington. [3] There, they again founded the town's first newspaper, The Advance. [3] They sold it in 1893, moved to Leavenworth, Washington, and for the third town in a row, founded the first newspaper, The Leavenworth Times. [3] However, the Times was not profitable, and Belle took on other work alongside it. [3]

In 1900, Belle and Frank returned to Wenatchee. Frank and his brother Fred went into law practice together, while Belle left work to raise Zelma and began volunteering with numerous organizations, [3] including the Woman's Christian Temperance Union. [4] Belle helped Frank study law and establish his practice, eventually going on to receive her own law degree from the University of Washington. [4] Frank later became President of the Washington State Bar Association. [5]

Political career and later life

Reeves won election to the Legislature in 1914, representing Chelan County and the 56th legislative district (later dissolved in 1933) for one term. [6] He later became a judge. [1] In 1922, after Reeves had retired and with their daughter Zelma grown, wife Belle won the House of Representatives seat in Washington's 12th legislative district that Frank had previously held. [3] Her candidacy resulted from her wide community involvement in Wenatchee: she won her primary by 100 votes when a group of Wenatchee women chose her as their write-in candidate without her prior knowledge or consent. [4] Frank was initially displeased with Belle's unexpected "honor," but later became her fierce supporter. [4]

Death

In 1933, tragedy struck as Belle led a floor fight against an effort to support federal repeal of the Eighteenth Amendment (prohibition). Frank stood at the rear of the House chamber cheering, when he suddenly collapsed and was pronounced dead on the scene by a doctor serving in the Senate. [3] He died of a cerebral hemorrhage related to injuries he sustained in a car accident the previous August in which he sustained multiple fractures, including to his skull. [7]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wenatchee, Washington</span> City in Washington, United States

Wenatchee is the county seat and largest city of Chelan County, Washington, United States. The population within the city limits in 2010 was 31,925, and was estimated to have increased to 34,360 as of 2019. Located in the north-central part of the state, at the confluence of the Columbia and Wenatchee rivers near the eastern foothills of the Cascade Range, Wenatchee lies on the western side of the Columbia River, across from the city of East Wenatchee. The Columbia River forms the boundary between Chelan and Douglas County. Wenatchee is the principal city of the Wenatchee–East Wenatchee, Washington Metropolitan Statistical Area, which encompasses all of Chelan and Douglas counties. However, the "Wenatchee Valley Area" generally refers to the land between Rocky Reach and Rock Island Dam on both banks of the Columbia, which includes East Wenatchee, Rock Island, and Malaga.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Arizona State Legislature</span> Legislative branch of the state government of Arizona

The Arizona State Legislature is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Arizona. It is a bicameral legislature that consists of a lower house, the House of Representatives, and an upper house, the Senate. Composed of 90 legislators, the state legislature meets in the Capitol Complex in the state capital of Phoenix, Arizona. Created by the Arizona Constitution upon statehood in 1912, the Arizona State Legislature met biennially until 1950. Today, they meet annually.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Washington State Route 10</span>

State Route 10 (SR 10) is a 16.16-mile-long (26.01 km) state highway in the U.S. state of Washington. The highway is a remnant of U.S. Route 10 (US 10) in Kittitas County, traveling southeast along the Yakima River from SR 970 in Teanaway to US 97 northwest of Ellensburg. SR 10 was established in 1970 as the successor to US 10 after the completion of I-90 across the Snoqualmie Pass in 1968. The highway was previously part of State Road 3 from 1923 to 1937 and Primary State Highway 3 (PSH 3) until the 1964 highway renumbering.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kansas Legislature</span> Legislative branch of the state government of Kansas

The Kansas Legislature is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Kansas. It is a bicameral assembly, composed of the lower Kansas House of Representatives, with 125 state representatives, and the upper Kansas Senate, with 40 state senators. Representatives are elected for two-year terms, senators for four-year terms.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Roland H. Hartley</span> 10th governor of Washington

Roland Hill Hartley was a Canadian-American politician who served as the tenth governor of Washington from 1925 to 1933. A member of the Republican Party, he was defeated for a third term during the Great Depression, and was succeeded by a Democrat.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Washington State Route 285</span> Highway in Washington

State Route 285 (SR 285) is a short state highway serving Douglas and Chelan counties, located in the U.S. state of Washington. The highway serves Wenatchee and runs 5 miles (8 km) from an interchange with State Route 28 (SR 28) in East Wenatchee to Downtown Wenatchee, crossing the Columbia River on the Senator George Sellar Bridge. After traversing downtown, the highway ends at an interchange with U.S. Route 2 (US 2) and US 97 north of the Wenatchee River in Sunnyslope.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">U.S. Route 97 in Washington</span>

U.S. Route 97 in the U.S. state of Washington is a 322-mile (518 km) route which traverses from the Oregon state line at the northern end of the Sam Hill Memorial Bridge in Maryhill, north to the Canada–US border in Okanogan County near Oroville. The highway serves major cities such as Goldendale, Yakima, Ellensburg and Wenatchee before continuing towards the Alaska Highway at the Yukon border as British Columbia Highway 97. Along the length of the roadway, US 97 is concurrent with State Route 14 in Maryhill, Interstate 82 (I-82) and US 12 between Union Gap and Ellensburg, I-90 briefly in Ellensburg, US 2 between Peshastin and rural Douglas County and SR 20 near Omak. An alternate route connects the highway with Chelan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mike Moyle</span> American politician from Idaho

Mike Moyle is a Republican member of the Idaho House of Representatives since 1998 in the District 14 A seat. Moyle serves has Idaho House Speaker since 2022. Moyle was the House Majority Leader from December 7, 2006 to 2022. As of 2022, he is the longest serving current member of the Idaho House of Representatives.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Scott Bedke</span> American politician from Idaho

Scott Conrad Bedke is an American politician serving as a member of the Idaho House of Representatives for the 27A district. In December 2012, Bedke defeated fellow Republican Lawerence Denney to become speaker of the Idaho House of Representatives. He is the lieutenant governor-elect of Idaho

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Daniel Kagan</span> American politician

Daniel Kagan is an American politician who served in the Colorado Senate from the 26th district from 2017 to 2019, and in the Colorado House of Representatives from the 3rd district from 2009 to 2017, as a member of the Democratic Party.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vito Barbieri</span> American politician from Idaho

James Vito Barbieri II is an American politician and lawyer from Idaho. He is a Republican Idaho State Representative since 2010 representing District 2 in the A seat.

Fredrick Leslie Wood III is an American physician and politician who has served as a member of the Idaho House of Representatives since 2006.

Steven P. Thayn is a Republican Idaho State Senator representing District 8. Previously, he served in the Idaho State House of Representatives, from 2007 to 2012.

Rick D. Youngblood is an American politician serving as a member of the Idaho House of Representatives from the 12B district. Elected in November 2012, he assumed office on December 1, 2012.

Thyra Kay Stevenson was an American politician from Idaho. She was a Republican member of Idaho House of Representatives from District 6 in the A seat, dying in office.

Dustin Whitney Manwaring is an American attorney and politician serving as a Republican member of the Idaho House of Representatives.

Jesse E. Johnson is an American educator and politician serving as a member of the Washington House of Representatives.

Belle Reeves was an American Democratic politician from Washington. After first winning election as a write-in candidate in 1922, she served as a member of the Washington House of Representatives representing Chelan County from 1923 to 1927 and 1931 to 1938. She became the first female Washington Secretary of State in 1938 upon her appointment by Governor Clarence D. Martin. She served as Secretary of State for ten years through successful elections in 1940 and 1944, dying while in office in 1948. She was also the first woman featured at a national convention of either major party.

Maude Sweetman was an American politician who served as a member of the Washington House of Representatives from 1923 to 1931. She represented Washington's 44th legislative district as a Republican, and was the first woman from King County elected to the legislature.

References

  1. 1 2 "Belle Reeves" (PDF). Women in the Legislature. Washington State Legislature . Retrieved 18 March 2022.
  2. ↑ "Belle Reeves". Legacy Washington. Secretary of State of Washington . Retrieved 18 March 2022.
  3. 1 2 3 4 James-Wilson, Jennifer; Owings-Klimek, Brenda (1990). "Belle Culp Reeves—Madame Secretary". Making a Difference. A Centennial Celebration of Washington Women. Vol. 2. Olympia, WA: State Superintendent of Public Instruction. pp. 86–91. OCLC   41619095.
  4. ↑ "Old news: Wenatchee's early train depot". The Wenatchee World . 21 May 2015. Retrieved 12 April 2022.
  5. ↑ "State of Washington: Members of the Legislature 1889-2019" (PDF). Washington Legislative Information Center. Brad Hendrickson, Secretary of the Senate; Bernard C. Dean, Chief Clerk House of Representatives. February 2019. Retrieved 15 April 2022.
  6. ↑ "Department of Health, Death Certificates, July 1, 1907-1996 - Frank - Belle Reeves - Isaac W. Reeves - Et Al.". Department of Health, Death Certificates, July 1, 1907-1996, Series: Death Records, ID: {2F7B3397-891D-4A0F-9135-6CF4EDD96A90}. Washington State Digital Archives.. 26 January 1933.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.