May, Catherine Dean (1914—)

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May, Catherine Dean (1914—)

American politician and six-term Republican member of the U.S. House of Representatives . Name variations: Catherine Dean Bedell. Born Catherine Dean Barnes on May 18, 1914, in Yakima, Washington; daughter of Charles Henry Barnes and Pauline (Van Loon) Barnes (both real estate brokers); graduated from Yakima Valley Junior College, 1934; University of Washington, Seattle, B.A., 1936, M.Edn., 1937; studied speech at the University of Southern California, 1939; married John O. May, in January 1943 (divorced); married Donald W. Bedell, on November 14, 1970; children: (first marriage) James C. May; Melinda E. May .

Catherine Dean May was born Catherine Dean Barnes on May 18, 1914, in Yakima, Washington. She graduated from Yakima Valley Junior College in 1934 and received a B.A. from the University of Washington in 1936 and a five-year degree in education in 1937. She then taught English at Chehalis, Washington, from 1937 to 1940, and studied speech at the University of Southern California in 1939.

May launched a new career in 1940, serving first as a radio special-events broadcaster and

writer in Yakima, and later as the director of the radio departments of an advertising agency and an insurance company in Seattle. She married John O. May in January 1943. The following year, Catherine May moved up to a national audience when she became a writer and assistant commentator for the National Broadcasting Company (NBC) in New York City, but she returned to Yakima in 1946. She served as the women's editor for a local radio station from 1948 to 1957, and also held the positions of office manager and medical secretary for the Yakima Medical Center.

May ran successfully as a Republican candidate for the Washington state legislature in 1952, in which position she served until 1958. That year, she won the seat vacated by Otis H. Holmes, an eight-term member of the U.S. House of Representatives from the fourth district of Washington; she was the first woman from Washington state elected to the House. As a member of the House, May served on the Committee on the District of Columbia, the Committee on Atomic Energy, and the Committee on Agriculture, where she quickly gained a reputation as an advocate of the protection and improvement of farm incomes. Although a member of the Republican Party, she remained true to her personal beliefs, and voted against the party majority on numerous occasions. May worked tirelessly to benefit the domestic sugar beet industry, which was important to her district, and in 1967 co-sponsored joint resolutions to create a U.S. World Food Study and Coordinating Commission and a Select Committee on Standards and Conduct. In 1970, she sponsored a proposal to provide free food stamps to families with incomes of less than $30 per month. May was defeated in her attempt to secure a seventh term in Congress in 1970, and withdrew briefly from public life. She married Donald Bedell later the same year.

Catherine May was appointed to the U.S. International Trade Commission by President Richard Nixon in 1971, and served in that capacity until 1981. The following year, she was named a Special Consultant to the president on the 50 States Project by Ronald Reagan. May is now president of Bedell Associates in Palm Desert, California.