The Loss of a Pioneer

I doubt many of the people who read this will have ever heard of Evelyn Gandy. She died last week in Mississippi, and the Los Angeles Times had a brief obituary of her that mentioned some of her accomplishments (and included a small picture). She was the first woman ever to be elected to three different statewide offices in Mississippi, eventually becoming the lieutenant governor.

Perhaps that's enough for some people to indicate just how important she was to Mississippi's history. Since the time that Miss Gandy served in public office, there has been another female lieutenant governor, Amy Tuck, someone I actually went to school with at Mississippi State University. However, there is usually quite a significant drop-off in quality from the first to the second of anything. I certainly think that's true in this case.

What made Miss Gandy's achievements remarkable to me is that they occurred in the 1970s. This was a time in America when the battle over the Equal Rights Amendment was still raging. And Mississippi isn't especially known for its support of liberal causes or the people who espouse them. The people of my home state don't do things that are "different." Change doesn't come swiftly in my home state; it's much more glacial in pace. To have a woman rise to such a prominent position of authority in that context? It's almost inconceivable that it happened.

Yet Evelyn Gandy was chosen by the voters of Mississippi to be the second most powerful person in the state (after she'd already served in two other offices, including state treasurer, where she was known for her integrity and intelligence). Admittedly, she was a Democrat at a time when the South was still predominantly Democratic (perhaps, that should be "democratic"), and she was certainly smarter than any of the people who ran against her. Still, one has to admire what she achieved; she was a remarkable person, and thankfully, enough people at the time recognized her skills and talents.

She had two unsuccessful campaigns to become governor of the state, losing in the primaries each time to better connected men. Looking back at the accomplishments of the men who defeated her, it's tough to imagine that she wasn't the better choice then and wouldn't have accomplished a great deal more even in those days. I remember voting for her the second time she ran; I wasn't yet eligible the first time. I don't think I was particularly aware of how significant it might have been had she been chosen as governor at the time, but it's interesting to speculate about it now.