Ivy Baker Priest

Ivy Baker Priest
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	(1905-09-07)September 7, 1905 Kimberly, Utah, U.S.
Died	Santa Monica, California, U.S.
Resting place	Wasatch Lawn Memorial Park
Spouse(s)	Roy Fletcher Priest Sidney Stevens
Children	Pat Priest 3 other
Religion	The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormon)
Signature	Ivy Baker Priest's 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.

Biography

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

On 7 December 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 20 June 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 at the Internet Archive

Preceded by Georgia Neese Clark

Treasurer of the United States 1953–1961

Succeeded by Elizabeth Rudel Smith