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Show Utela hoedMrg Eeva Beck Bos ' V p " ' 't " By SHARON MORREY Reva Beck Bosone ,born and raised in American Fork, "woman of courage", "self-starter, constantly in motion" judge, mother, wife and legislator was honored posthumously Sept 28 at the Marriott Hotel in Salt Lake City as she was formally inducted to the Beehive Hall of Fame. Judge Bosone was the single women inducted as seven new members of the Hall of Fame were announced. She is the most distinguished resident this community has produced. The bronze plaque awarded Judge Bosone spelled out her creed for life "Do Right and Fear Not" a creed given her by her mother Zilpha Ann Chipman Beck. In her writings to Juanita Walton, a University of Utah student who did her master's thesis on Reva Beck Bosone, Reva comments that her "strong mother probably made up whatever she has become." Mother powerful influence "My mother, a rock-bound pilgrim was the single most powerful influence in my life," said Reva. "It was she who decided I . should attend Westminister and paid my tuition to the University of California. "She told me often that a country is no better than its laws and if you want to serve all of the people, go where the laws are made." Reva did just that. After teaching public speaking in American Fork, Delta and Ogden for several years, she ran for legislative office. She won and became the first woman legislator in the state of Utah, the first woman to chair a major committee in the legislature, the first woman to be elected majority leader in the State House, and eventually the first, and to date only woman from Utah to be elected to Congress. Reva also spent 12 years serving as a municipal court judge for the state of Utah during which time insurance rates fell in the state because traffic accidents and deaths were dramatically down while Reva sat on the Police and Traffic Court bench. Revolutionary within system She has been called "a reformer" in the judicial and not evangelical sense. "She has been a revolutionary working within the system, a doer combining pragmatism, idealism, and creativity," says Hope Chamberlain, author of "A Minority of Members." While on the bench Judge Bosone's courtroom became a "rapid-fire news center" according to Ms. Chamberlain.She handled reservation and given the right to vote. Whatever the issue or case before her, she says she "always voted her conscience." As a result of her dedicated service, Reva Beck Ikisone has brought honor to herself and to her hometown and state. Eleanor Roosevelt personally commended her work and included Reva in her book, "Ladies of Courage". She is the primary subject of Irving S.Stone's book "There Was besides all the national and state wide honors bestowed upon Reva Bosone.local honors came her way, too. Vice president by default She was elected Queen of the Carnival when 16 years old, nearly became studentbody president her senior year at American Fork High School. (She and her opponent were called into the principal's office the eve of the election because "it just couldn't be that a girl was president." Reva became vice-president vice-president to her opponent, but claimed she "ran the school anyway.") Reva was a close personal friend to Dena and Clarence Grant and has left many letters and writings for the American Fork Public Library in the Dena S. Grant historical records room. She is described by thesis writer ita Walton, whn. Kfa. as "a til warm. charm, characterizes: ' she w referred to ebutaCd Many congratuuT W her mmoir8US church apostCf,, leaders, presidents iS? ' tf public officials. mC: "The "served methodical lawyff' . V looked . ,if shei5 home in the kitchencln r& he says she was iusl,j 'c.v: her mother taug? ! Wf U-n' . adds that "the i;10 pohbcs and govern for people of integrity T who will dow?& nght and not worrr Pt.cal censed themselves." tfi vM The little girl who BtarwJ' suffered a heart attack at t Ps of age, and battled 8exi;i Th' her career, did just that Vml She died earlier this VfP Kansas, where she wait her daughter. llh "She has an absolutely open mind on imy of a dozen issues and readily said so," say past colleaguts, "Only on humanitarian questions was her thinking inflexible." Reva was responsible for passing Minimum Wage and Hour Laws for women and children and later helped bring about ratification of the Child I ,abor Amendment to the United States Constitution. She was quick to outlaw the poll tax and abolish lynching. Reva fought for land reclamation, insisting that fkxxl control and soil conservation were essential to the West. "We were once a desert and we don't want to go back to it," she stated. Urged resource survey Reva called the first hearing on the Colorado River Project in Salt Lake City, is credited with passage of the $70 million Weber Basin Project bill. In 1949, she went before the " Interior Department Secretary to plead for support of a bill calling for a survey of natural resources in the United States. The request was denied because "it would cost millions" and the department did not support her bill. "Had there been such a survey done, perhaps, there would not be such an energy crisis as we have today, with a depletion of our iron and copper," says the Bicentennical Issue of Women Legislators of Utah in commenting on Bosone's accomplishments. Congresswoman Bosone also fought against heavy CIA appropriations declaring prophetically that it vested "too .much power in an agency not accountable to Congress." Voted conscience She voted to control inflation, insure good housing, tried to get the American Indian off the REVA BECK BOSONE cases informally, often addressing defendants by their first names. She sent wayward girls to psychiatrists, drunks to physicians or to Alcoholics Anonymous, asked employers to give petty culprits another chance but came down heavily on traffic violators and drunken drivers. Her courtroom became the place to find a story for reporters and although Judge Bosone says the press "boys" were always good to her, she did call them in one day and ask that they not report on her every day. Inflexible humanitarian "The public surely will become sick of reading about me," she declared. The public seemed,however, not-to not-to tire of the tall, red-haired woman who worked long and hard in the legislature and Congress to protect individual rights. |
