Delora Blakely

President 1921-1922

Delora Edith Wilkins Blakely was born at Mt. Pleasant, Iowa to James Shields and Emeline Miller Wilkins on June 19, 1864. She was the descendant of four patriots who fought in the American Revolutionary War.

Delora grew up on an Iowa farm, attended Howe's Academy and Central State Normal School at Mt. Pleasant, Iowa and began teaching in public schools when she was 16. On April 14, 1897, at age 33, she married Gould B. Blakely, who was a registrar for the Salt Lake branch of the U.S. Land Office located in Fremont, Nebraska. In 1897, she and her husband relocated to the Salt Lake Valley. She did not have any children.

Upon arriving in Salt Lake City, Delora took an active role in the public affairs of the city and state through her affiliation with many organizations of which she was a member. She belonged to the Philanthropic Educational Organization (PEO) Sisterhood, a U.S. based international women's organization, where she served as a delegate in Lincoln, Nebraska (1903) and Los Angeles, California (1904). She held every one of the seven offices in the organization.

Although not a native of Utah, Delora was interested in the civic, social, and general welfare of her adopted state. Connected with the Sarah Daft Home for the Aged, the Welfare Club, and the Monday Night Club, she also on served on the Board of Directors for the Utah Humane Society and was an organizer for the Women's Civic Center. In addition, she served as a member of the Salt Lake City Planning Commission, as Vice-President of the Wood Wilson Foundation Society, Vice-President of the Salt Lake Chapter League of Women Voters, and volunteered with the American Red Cross. She was untiring in her effort to establish a municipal market in Salt Lake.

A staunch Democrat being active in the Women's Democratic Club and Chairman of the Women's State Democratic Committee, in 1918, she was elected to the Utah House of Representatives. Her interest and support of numerous and various organizations established her qualifications to serve in the Legislature. One contemporaneous account states,

"She stands as a splendid representative of that type of American citizen who recognizes his obligations and responsibilities as well as his pledges of citizenship."

While in the Utah Legislature, she devoted much of her time and energy toward women's welfare issues. Among the many bills she drew up and succeeded in passing included the Mother's Pension Act. Sometimes called "widows" pensions, the state was authorized for the first time to make payments directly to impoverished mothers with dependent children. Benefit payments were meant to cover at least a portion of the cost of raising children so children would not have to be placed in foster homes or institutions such as orphanages. Mothers' pensions were the first explicit welfare benefits established in the United States prior to the Great Depression.

In 1920, Delora was sent as a delegate from Utah to the national Democratic convention in San Francisco. At the convention she presented a resolution to ratify the suffrage amendment to the constitution. Objection was made, however, and the resolution did not pass.

She was a director of the Salt Lake Federation of Women's Clubs and for many years was an officer or a director of the State Federation. The objective of the Utah Federation, as stated in the first constitution, was "To bring into communication with one another the various women's clubs..." Under her leadership, more than 6,000 women members were entertained in Salt Lake City on their way to and from the national convention in California. Through this achievement, she became widely known throughout the entire country.

She died on January 26, 1922, age 58, in Salt Lake City and is buried in Ridge Cemetery, Fremont, Nebraska.

Adapted from the Delora Edith Blakely biography located in the Utah State Archives and from the Salt Lake Tribune article dated January 27, 1922, entitled "Worker in Civic Affairs is Dead."