[3] Her father was a lawyer who served as Attorney General of South Dakota and her mother was a leading suffragist in the state.

[13] Pyle became a lecturer for the league[5] and traveled to Indiana, Iowa, Nebraska, Kansas and Ohio to give speeches and make presentations.

[12] After failing to gain the nomination through the Beadle County Republicans, Pyle ran in the Independent ticket primary, which she appeared to lose, but successfully contested the result.

[16] In addition to her part-time legislative position, Pyle was also appointed to serve as Deputy Secretary of State of South Dakota.

[1] Hitchcock lost the primary for the Democratic nomination for a full term, and the general election was won by Republican Chan Gurney.

[1] Because he lost the Democratic nomination, a quirk in South Dakota law required Hitchcock to step down following the November 1938 election, which would have created a vacancy before Gurney's term began in January 1939.

[1] As a result of these circumstances and the quirks in the law, the Republican Party prevailed upon Pyle, despite her pledge not seek any further partisan political office, to run in the special election, in part because of her popularity in the state, and in part because she had the name recognition that they would not have to devote many resources to the special election campaign.

[2] No special session was called, so Pyle did not have the opportunity to perform any official Senate duties before her term ended.

[1][25] In January 1939, Pyle returned to her insurance business, and remained closely involved in public service work.

[2] In 1940, she became the first woman to deliver a presidential nominating speech at a national convention, speaking on behalf of candidate Harland J.

[1] In addition to resuming her career in the life insurance business, Pyle was the guardian for two orphaned boys and managed her family's 640-acre farm near Huron.