Catherine Dean MAY, Congress, WA (1914-2004)

MAY, Catherine Dean, (later Catherine May Bedell), a Representative from Washington; born Catherine Dean Barnes, May 18, 1914, in Yakima, Wash.; graduated from Yakima Valley Junior College, Yakima, Wash., 1934; B.S., University of Washington, Seattle, Wash., 1936; teaching certificate, University of Washington, Seattle, Wash., 1937; attended the University of Southern California, Los Angeles, Calif., 1939; teacher of English in Chehalis (Wash.) High School, 1937-1940; women’s editor and news broadcaster, Takoma, Wash., in 1941 and 1942; head of radio department for a Seattle advertising agency, 1942-1943, and for a Seattle insurance company, 1943-1944; writer and assistant commentator, National Broadcasting Co., New York City 1944-1946; women’s editor, station KIT, Yakima, Wash., 1948-1957; office manager and medical secretary, Yakima Medical Center, in 1957 and 1958; president, Bedell Associates; member of the Washington state legislature, 1952-1958; elected as a Republican to the Eighty-sixth and to the five succeeding Congresses (January 3, 1959-January 3, 1971); unsuccessful candidate for reelection to the Ninety-second Congress in 1970; United States International Trade Commission, 1971-1981; Special Consultant to the President on the 50 States Project, 1982; died on May 28, 2004, in Rancho Mirage, Calif.

Bibliography

”Catherine Dean May” in Women in Congress, 1917-2006. Prepared under the direction of the Committee on House Administration by the Office of History & Preservation, U. S. House of Representatives. Washington: Government Printing Office, 2006; Pidcock, Patricia Graham. “Catherine May: A Political Biography.” Ph. D. Diss., Washington State University, 1992.

Source: Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1771-Present