The Early Years • The Fords Move to Las Vegas • Early Political Activism • Jean Runs for Political Office • Political Defeat • Senate Victory • Jean Ford Associates and Jean Ford Co. • Commission and Community Services • Reno-Tahoe Company • Women's History • National Issues Forum • Awards • Terminal Illness

JEAN FORD'S LIFE

THE EARLY YEARS
Imogene (Jean) Evelyn Young was born in Miami, Oklahoma, on December 28, 1929. Her family moved to Joplin, Missouri, where Jean attended kindergarten, grade school and high school. In 1951 Jean graduated cum laude from Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas, with a B.A. in Sociology. After graduation she worked as a recreation therapist for the American Red Cross in military hospitals until 1955, when she married Samuel Ford, a dermatologist she met while working at Tripler Army Hospital in Hawaii. Their first daughter, Janet Ford Spelman, was born in 1956, followed by Carla Ford Oberst in 1958. In 1962 the Fords moved to Las Vegas.

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THE FORDS MOVE TO LAS VEGAS
From the beginning of their lives in Las Vegas, the Fords were active members of the community and pursued their mutual interests in various community organizations. Jean was active as a Girl Scout leader and both Jean and Sam made contacts within the local Unitarian fellowship. As a result of their love of hiking and camping, Jean and Sam became leaders in the Sierra Club . Jean later became a member of several civic organizations including Common Cause and the American Civil Liberties Union.

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EARLY POLITICAL ACTIVISM
Through her contacts with people in the Sierra Club and the Unitarian fellowship, Jean became aware of two issues that spurred her into political action - the lack of library services for residents of Clark County and the threatened development of Red Rock Canyon. Jean played a leading role in addressing both of these issues. She worked to secure legislative changes to enable the formation of the Clark County Library, and she was also a leader of the movement that led to the protection of Red Rock Canyon. In 1965 Jean was asked to serve on the Nevada State Parks Commission.

By 1965 - three years after moving to Las Vegas - Jean was thoroughly immersed in Southern Nevada politics and social issues. She had played a leading role in starting the Clark County Library, had led the fight to preserve Red Rock Canyon, and was appointed to the State Parks Commission. She joined the League of Women Voters (LWV) and served as president of the Las Vegas chapter. From 1969 until 1971 she also served as president of the State League. Jean was involved with the LWV in its support of integration in Clark County schools and the District's concern for a juvenile delinquency prevention program. Reapportionment, particularly as it concerned the racial makeup of districts, was another area of focus of her involvement with the LWV. It was this involvement in the League that stimulated most of her community activism and led to her participation in state politics.

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JEAN RUNS FOR POLITICAL OFFICE
Following legislative reapportionment in 1971, several new State Assembly districts were created throughout Nevada. Jean realized from her work with the League that she could accomplish more as a member of the state legislature, so she decided to run for State Assembly in 1972. Her family was Republican and although she hadn't been active in party politics in Nevada, Jean ran for office and was elected as a Republican.

Jean went to Carson City for her first legislative session in January 1973. This marked the beginning of a legislative career that would reflect her interests in open government, women's rights, social issues and the environment. Jean was re-elected to the State Assembly in 1974.

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POLITICAL DEFEAT
In 1976 Jean decided to run for State Senate. Her campaign materials emphasized her concern with "people, not power or personal gain" and her support for open government and a bi-partisanship approach to problem solving. The Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) was a major issue on both the state and national levels and Jean was very active in pro-ERA efforts. She had introduced the resolution to adopt the ERA in her first Assembly session. Her support of the ERA was one of the factors in her defeat for the Senate in 1976.

At this point, Jean returned to school, earning a Master's Degree in Public Administration from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. During this time she was very active in women's politics and played key roles in the International Women's Year conferences in Las Vegas and Houston. It was during this time that Jean and Sam divorced.

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SENATE VICTORY
In 1978 Jean ran again for the Senate, this time as a Democrat. Because of the size of her district, her campaign had to move beyond her usual grass-roots approach and use major media, as demonstrated in the campaign materials for that race. Jean was elected to a four-year term where she continued to push for support of social justice issues and was a champion for the elderly, the disabled, children and displaced homemakers.

She also continued her support of environmental and park issues. During the 1970s she had been appointed to the Western Regional Advisory Committee to the National Park Service. She represented Nevada as a connection between the citizenry and the government on the management of national parks. One of the issues the committee dealt with was restrictions on the use of motorized boats on the Colorado River in Grand Canyon National Park. While serving as State Senator, Jean, along with other legislators, participated in a trail ride on Table Mountain in the Monitor Range of central Nevada with the U.S. Forest Service to learn more about environmental issues.

In 1982, after serving in both the 1979 and 1981 sessions of the legislature, Jean chose not to run for a second Senate term. Instead she turned her attention for a time to running her consulting business and her rural tours.

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JEAN FORD ASSOCIATES
AND JEAN FORD COMPANY
In 1979 and 1980, Jean worked as Community Relations Director of the Clark County Library District. Then, along with several others, she opened a consulting business - Jean Ford Associates. Ford played a principal role in the business, in addition to serving in the State Senate. The company was dissolved in 1982 and Ford opened the Jean Ford Company.

One aspect of the business that she particularly enjoyed was providing tours of rural Nevada. She and a friend started Nevada Discovery Tours as an outgrowth of their personal interest in the state.

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TOURISM COMMISSION AND COMMUNITY SERVICES
In 1983 Governor Richard Bryan appointed Ford to Nevada's first Tourism Commission. She held this position for two years. Then, from 1985 to 1989 she served as Director of the Nevada Office of Community Services, an organization that supervised federally funded programs at the state level. At this time she moved from Las Vegas to Carson City and lived there for the rest of her life.

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RENO-TAHOE COMPANY
Ford entered the world of private business again in 1989 when she took over as general manager of the Reno-Tahoe Company. The company was a tourism related agency that did things similar to what Ford's companies had done in Las Vegas. For two years Ford was back in the world of tours and special events. Only this time she was managing a staff of twelve instead of actually leading the tours herself.

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WOMEN'S HISTORY
Although no longer holding elected office, Ford remained active in women's politics and women's issues. In 1991 she was appointed interim director of the University of Nevada, Reno (UNR) Women's Studies Program. She also taught classes in women's studies at UNR and at Western Nevada Community College. While teaching these classes Ford became aware of the scarcity of information available about the history of women in Nevada. In her typical "take action" manner, Ford decided to address the subject by seeking papers from women about their personal and public accomplishments. This project became the Nevada Women's Archives (NWA) in the Special Collections Department of the UNR Library.

In 1994, Ford started the women's archives at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. As a result of her efforts at both UNR and UNLV, the papers of many significant Nevada women have been preserved and made available to students and researchers. One of the products of Ford's work with the Nevada Women's Archives was a book containing sources of information about specific women in Nevada's history. This book - Nevada Women's History: A Guide to Archives and Manuscripts in Nevada Repositories - was published in 1998.

At this time Ford's interest in collecting and preserving women's history brought about the founding of the Nevada Women's History Project (NWHP). Along with several others, she formed the non-profit organization and served as chair and state coordinator. The purpose of the organization is "to provide visibility and support for the gathering and dissemination of history about the roles and contributions of Nevada women of every race, class and ethnic background."

At the time of her death, Ford was directing the compilation of a book with the Nevada Women's History Project - Women in Nevada History: An Annotated Bibliography of Published Sources.This book was published in 2000 and reviews 426 published books that include information on women's roles and experiences in Nevada history. The book was designed for use in classrooms and other learning programs.

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NATIONAL ISSUES FORUM
While teaching in 1991 Ford took on another project for which she was well suited. She became project director for the National Issues Forum in northern Nevada. Her function was to organize and conduct deliberative discussion around public policy issues. The concept of getting the public involved in making public policy and connecting the public with policy-making officials fit in with Ford's lifelong beliefs. Over the next three years she led public discussions on a variety of issues, including water in the west, racial equality and citizen activism.

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AWARDS
As a testimony to the impact Ford had on the lives of so many Nevadans, she received awards from organizations that recognized her commitment to public service.

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TERMINAL ILLNESS
In September 1997, Ford was diagnosed with inoperable pancreatic cancer. Following the announcement of her illness, a series of tributes were held honoring her life.

Ford continued to play an active role in the Nevada Women's History Project and even postponed a series of chemotherapy treatments to take a road trip to perform in a stage play that she had written about the suffrage movement in Nevada.

Sadly, Ford died less than a year later, on August 26, 1998. An extensive oral history interview was conducted in the months preceding her death. The transcript of those interviews has been published by the University of Nevada Press as Jean Ford - A Nevada Woman Leads the Way.