Belle Reeves

[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] However, the Times was not profitable, and alongside setting the type, Belle took other work as the local correspondent for the Spokane Spokesman and the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.

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.

[1] Through her political career, she earned a reputation among voters and colleagues as a fair, reliable, and dedicated public servant, as well as the nicknames "The Sweetheart of Washington" and "The Grand Old Lady".

[3] In 1925, Reeves and Mabel Ingersoll Miller (R-Snohomish County) successfully sponsored House Bill 131 through the legislature, which would have created a separate state prison for women.

[4] In 1933, tragedy struck as Belle led a floor fight against an effort to support federal repeal of the Eighteenth Amendment (prohibition).

Her husband 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] In February, 1938, Washington Secretary of State Ernest Hutchinson died suddenly, and Governor Martin appointed Reeves to fill the position.

[8] As she finished out her appointed term in 1940, she ran for election and won with the second-highest vote total of any candidate on the ballot, behind on President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

"[2] While women went on to hold other Washington statewide offices, it would be 75 years until Kim Wyman became the next woman to serve as Secretary of State.