Velma Linford (May 30, 1907 – May 25, 2002) was an American educator, author, and politician who served as the 12th Wyoming Superintendent of Public Instruction as a Democrat.

Life

Velma Isabelle Linford was born on May 30, 1907, in Afton, Wyoming, to John Amasa Linford and Elizabeth Rowland Linford. She attended

Star Valley High School Star Valley High School is a high school located in rural Afton, Lincoln County, Wyoming, United States. It is one of three high schools in Lincoln County School District Number 2, along with Cokeville High School, and Swift Creek High School. ...

where she graduated in 1926 and then attended the

University of Wyoming The University of Wyoming (UW) is a Public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in Laramie, Wyoming, United States. It was founded in March 1886, four years before the territory was admitted as the 44th state, ...

where she earned a bachelor's degree in 1930 and then a master's degree in 1934. From 1933 to 1955 she taught at Laramie High School. In 1946 she wrote "Wyoming: Frontier State" a history textbook meant for junior high school. In 1949 she was elected as

National Education Association The National Education Association (NEA) is the largest labor union in the United States. It represents public school teachers and other support personnel, faculty and staffers at colleges and universities, retired educators, and college st ...

director for Wyoming at its convention in Boston, Massachusetts and on July 8, 1953, she was named to the eleven member executive committee of the organization.

Politics

On June 12, 1946, she filed to run for the Democratic nomination for Superintendent of Public Instruction and after winning the nomination was narrowly defeated by Edna B. Stolt. It was speculated that she would run for the office again in 1950, but chose not to. On June 10, 1954, she announced that she would seek the Democratic nomination for Superintendent of Public Instruction and after winning the nomination without opposition narrowly defeated Ray E. Robertson in the general election. During her tenure she sponsored the first statewide mental survey of children in Wyoming. In 1959 she was one of sixty people in the Atlantic Congress representing 15

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO ; , OTAN), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental Transnationalism, transnational military alliance of 32 Member states of NATO, member s ...

countries that met in London and drafted the Atlantic charter for free people. On June 18, 1962, she announced that she would seek a third term, but was narrowly defeated in the general election by Cecil Shaw by 737 votes. On May 31, 1960, she announced that she would seek the Democratic nomination for Senator, but was narrowly defeated in the primary by Raymond B. Whitaker who went on to lose to Representative

Edwin Keith Thomson Edwin Keith Thomson (February 8, 1919 – December 9, 1960), usually known as Keith Thomson, was a United States representative from Wyoming. A highly decorated World War II veteran, Thomson served three terms in Wyoming's only U.S. House seat. O ...

. In 1968 she announced that she would seek the Democratic nomination for Wyoming's at-large congressional district, but was defeated in a landslide by John S. Wold.

Later life

In 1966 she accepted a position in

VISTA Vista may refer to: Software *Windows Vista, the line of Microsoft Windows client operating systems released in 2006 and 2007 * VistA, (Veterans Health Information Systems and Technology Architecture) a medical records system of the United States ...

and oversaw the VISTA program in the

Wind River Indian Reservation The Wind River Indian Reservation, in the west-central portion of the U.S. state of Wyoming, is shared by two Native Americans in the United States, Native American tribes, the Eastern Shoshone (, ''meaning: "buffalo eaters"'') and the Norther ...

and recruited volunteers. She died on May 25, 2002, in Salt Lake City, Utah and was then interred in Afton Cemetery in Afton, Wyoming.

Electoral history

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Linford, Velma 1907 births 2002 deaths People from Afton, Wyoming University of Wyoming alumni Writers from Wyoming Wyoming Democrats 20th-century Wyoming politicians