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Elizabeth Kee | |
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| Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromWest Virginia's 5th congressional district | |
| In office July 17, 1951 – January 3, 1965 | |
| Preceded by | John Kee |
| Succeeded by | James Kee |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Maude Elizabeth Simpkins (1895-06-07)June 7, 1895 Radford, Virginia |
| Died | February 15, 1975(1975-02-15) (aged 79) Bluefield, West Virginia |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Spouse(s) | Alan Frazier John Kee |
| Children | James Kee |
| Alma mater | National Business College, Roanoke, Virginia |
Maude Elizabeth Kee (néeSimpkins; June 7, 1895 – February 15, 1975), known generally asElizabeth Kee, was a U.S.Democratic politician. She was the first woman elected to theU.S. House of Representatives fromWest Virginia, serving from 1951 to 1965. Kee specialized in veterans' and unemployment issues during her congressional career.
Maude Elizabeth Kee was bornMaude Elizabeth Simpkins inRadford, Virginia, in 1895. She was one of 11 children of John Jesse Wade Simpkins and Cora French Hall Simpkins. Both of her parents held strong conservative views, which she began to challenge at a young age.[1] She rejected her parents' strict Baptist faith, converting toCatholicism. After moving with her family to Roanoke, Virginia, she attended the National Business College there. Around 1916, Lee worked as secretary for theRoanoke Times business office, and later worked as a court reporter for a local law firm.
After a failed first marriage to a railway clerk, James Alan Frazier, she marriedJohn Kee, who had been Frazier's attorney in his divorce from Elizabeth. She, Kee, and her two children from her previous marriage moved toBluefield, West Virginia. John Kee was first elected to Congress from theFifth Congressional District in 1932, and Elizabeth Kee served as her husband's executive secretary until his death in 1951. She won a special election to succeed him for the rest of the term, then went on to be elected to six full terms and served from July 17, 1951, to January 3, 1965, in the82nd through the88th U.S. Congresses.
In Congress, Kee served on the House Government Operations, Interior and Insular Affairs, and Veterans Affairs committees, chairing the last's Veterans' Hospitals Subcommittee.[2] After struggling to win support for economic redevelopment plans for her home district in West Virginia during theEisenhower Administration, Kee supportedJohn F. Kennedy's successful campaign in 1960 and, through theAccelerated Public Works Act, funneled millions of dollars to the state through an Area Redevelopment Administration.[3] She did not sign the 1956Southern Manifesto and voted in favor of theCivil Rights Acts of 1957 and1960,[4][5] as well as the24th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution,[6] but voted present on theCivil Rights Act of 1964.[7] Kee did not seek re-election in 1964, and was succeeded in Congress by her son,James Kee. She retired to Bluefield, West Virginia, where she died in 1975.
The Elizabeth Kee Federal Building inBluefield, WV is named in her honor.[8]
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)| U.S. House of Representatives | ||
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| Preceded by | Member of the U.S. House of Representatives fromWest Virginia's 5th congressional district 1951–1965 | Succeeded by |
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| Other | |
