Ivy Baker Priest

Ivy Baker Priest
25th Treasurer of California
In office 1967–1975
Governor	Ronald Reagan
Preceded by	Bert A. Betts
Succeeded by	Jesse Unruh
30th Treasurer of the United States
In office January 28, 1953 – January 29, 1961
President	Dwight D. Eisenhower
Preceded by	Georgia Neese Clark
Succeeded by	Elizabeth Rudel Smith
Personal details
Born	Ivy Baker (1905-09-07)September 7, 1905 Kimberly, Utah, U.S.
Died	June 23, 1975(1975-06-23) (aged 69) Santa Monica, California, U.S.
Resting place	Wasatch Lawn Memorial Park 40°41′52.08″N 111°50′30.12″W
Spouse(s)	Roy Fletcher Priest Sidney Stevens
Children	Pat Priest 3 other
Signature

Ivy Baker Priest (September 7, 1905 – June 23, 1975) was Treasurer of the United States from 1953 to 1961 and California State Treasurer from 1967 to 1975.

Early life

Priest was born in Kimberly, Utah, on September 7, 1905, to Clara Fernley and Orange D. Baker. Her father worked as a gold miner in Kimberly and later as a copper miner in the town of Bingham Canyon. She was active in politics from high school, when she worked to register voters in a mayoral campaign.

Political career

She was a delegate to the GOP state convention in 1932 and ran for Congress in Utah on the Republican ticket in 1934, but lost.

On December 7, 1935, in Salt Lake City, Utah, she married Roy Fletcher Priest.

Beginning in 1944, she served for several years as Utah's Republican National Committeewoman and, in 1950, ran for Congress in Utah again and lost for a second time. During Dwight D. Eisenhower's campaign for president, Priest took charge of the women's division of the Republican National Committee and was credited with the successful drive to get out the women's vote, which totaled 52 percent of Eisenhower's victory margin.

She served as Treasurer of the United States under President Eisenhower from January 28, 1953, to January 29, 1961, during which time her signature appeared on all U.S. currency.

In 1967 she became national chairman of the Easter Seals.

On June 20, 1961, in Los Angeles, California, she married Sidney William Stevens.

In 1967 she was elected as a Republican to the office of California State Treasurer, serving two terms from 1967 until her death in 1975.

She died of cancer in Santa Monica, California on June 23, 1975. She was buried in the Wasatch Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery, Salt Lake City, Utah.

Legacy

She was a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Priest was the mother of Pat Priest, an actress best known for playing Marilyn Munster in the 1960s television show The Munsters.

Quotations

"We women don't care too much about getting our pictures on money as long as we can get our hands on it."

"We seldom stop to think how many people's lives are entwined with our own. It is a form of selfishness to imagine that every individual can operate on his own or can pull out of the general stream and not be missed."

"The world is round and the place which may seem like the end may also be the beginning."

"I'm often wrong, but never in doubt."

External links

• Ivy Baker Priest at Find a Grave
• A film clip "Longines Chronoscope with Ivy Baker Priest" is available for viewing at the Internet Archive
• Ivy Baker Priest Photographs - Salt Lake Tribune Negative Collection
• Ivy Baker Priest photograph collection, 1920-1975
• Ivy Baker Priest papers, 1889-1975