Anna Belle Clement O'Brien (May 6, 1923 – August 31, 2009) was a Tennessee politician, nicknamed "the first lady of Tennessee politics." She served as the governor's chief of staff from 1963 to 1967, was a member of the

Tennessee House of Representatives The Tennessee House of Representatives is the lower house of the Tennessee General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Tennessee. Constitutional requirements According to the state constitution of 1870, this body is to consis ...

in the 89th

General Assembly A general assembly or general meeting is a meeting of all the members of an organization or shareholders of a company. Specific examples of general assembly include: Churches * General Assembly (presbyterian church), the highest court of presby ...

, from 1975 to 1977, and a Tennessee State Senator in the 90th to 99th General Assemblies, from 1977 to 1996. While she was not the first woman ever to be in the

Tennessee Senate The Tennessee Senate is the upper house of the U.S. state of Tennessee , Tennessee's state legislature, which is known formally as the Tennessee General Assembly. The Tennessee Senate has the power to pass resolutions concerning essentially any ...

, she was the first woman ever to be a chairman of a committee (as enacted in her tenure). Senator Mildred Jolly Lashlee was Chair of the Public Utilities Committee 1945-1947 which was absorbed into Energy & Natural Resources Committee during Senator O'Brien's tenure. During her 22 years in the General Assembly, she was the chairperson for three committees: Education, Transportation, and the Democratic Caucus.

Personal life

Anna Belle Clement was the daughter of

Dickson, Tennessee Dickson is a city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. Located in Dickson County. It is part of the Nashville metropolitan area. As of the 2020 census, Dickson's population was 16,058. History Dickson was named for Congressman William Dickson, as ...

attorney and mayor Robert S. Clement and Maybelle Goad Clement. Her brother, Frank G. Clement, was

governor A governor is an politician, administrative leader and head of a polity or Region#Political regions, political region, in some cases, such as governor-general, governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the ...

Tennessee Tennessee (, ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Kentucky to the north, Virginia to the northeast, North Carolina t ...

from 1953 to 1959 and again from 1963 to 1967. During his second governorship she served as his chief of staff. She married twice. Her first marriage was to A. W. Lucas, who served as mayor of

New Johnsonville, Tennessee New Johnsonville is a city in Humphreys County, Tennessee, United States. The population was 1,951 at the 2010 census. History The history of New Johnsonville is rooted in the town of Johnsonville, which was once situated on the Tennessee Riv ...

.Chas Sisk
In 'man's world,' Anna Belle Clement O'Brien was political pioneer
The Tennessean, September 2, 2009 In 1966 she married Charles H. O'Brien, who was a Tennessee State Senator at the time of their marriage and who later became Chief Justice of the

Tennessee Supreme Court The Tennessee Supreme Court is the highest court in the state of Tennessee. The Supreme Court's three buildings are seated in Nashville, Knoxville, and Jackson, Tennessee. The Court is composed of five members: a chief justice, and four justice ...

. They had been married 40 years at the time of his death in January 2007.

Career in elective politics

Anna Belle and Charles O'Brien made their home in Crossville, which area Anna Belle represented in the General Assembly, winning her first election in 1974. Her campaign slogan when she ran for the State Senate in 1976 was: "A woman's place is in the House … and the Senate too!" In 1982 she was a candidate for the Democratic Party nomination for governor, but lost in the

primary Primary or primaries may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music Groups and labels * Primary (band), from Australia * Primary (musician), hip hop musician and record producer from South Korea * Primary Music, Israeli record label Work ...

Knoxville Knoxville is a city in Knox County, Tennessee, United States, and its county seat. It is located on the Tennessee River and had a population of 190,740 at the 2020 United States census. It is the largest city in the East Tennessee Grand Division ...

mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a Municipal corporation, municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilitie ...

Randy Tyree Randell "Randy" Tyree (born 1940) is a Tennessee politician who served as mayor of Knoxville from 1976 to 1983 and was the Democratic candidate for Governor in 1982. Biography Tyree was born in Carthage, Tennessee, in 1940. He received a bachel ...

, who lost in the general

election An election is a formal group decision-making process whereby a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold Public administration, public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative d ...

to Republican governor

Lamar Alexander Andrew Lamar Alexander Jr. (born July 3, 1940) is an American politician and attorney who served as a United States senator from Tennessee from 2003 to 2021. A member of the Republican Party, he also was the 45th governor of Tennessee from 1 ...

. In the 1980s, O'Brien was diagnosed with

breast cancer Breast cancer is a cancer that develops from breast tissue. Signs of breast cancer may include a Breast lump, lump in the breast, a change in breast shape, dimpling of the skin, Milk-rejection sign, milk rejection, fluid coming from the nipp ...

, underwent a

mastectomy Mastectomy is the medical term for the surgical removal of one or both breasts, partially or completely. A mastectomy is usually carried out to treat breast cancer. In some cases, women believed to be at high risk of breast cancer choose to have ...

, and received a silicone implant. Subsequently, she worked to enact legislation to require

health insurers Health insurance or medical insurance (also known as medical aid in South Africa) is a type of insurance that covers the whole or a part of the risk of a person incurring medical expenses. As with other types of insurance, risk is shared among ma ...

to provide coverage for

mammogram Mammography (also called mastography; DICOM modality: MG) is the process of using low-energy X-rays (usually around 30 kVp) to examine the human breast for diagnosis and screening. The goal of mammography is the early detection of breast cancer ...

s and later cosponsored a bill to expand women's rights to sue over defective breast implants by extending the

statute of limitations A statute of limitations, known in civil law systems as a prescriptive period, is a law passed by a legislative body to set the maximum time after an event within which legal proceedings may be initiated. ("Time for commencing proceedings") In ...

for

product liability Product liability is the area of law in which manufacturers, distributors, suppliers, retailers, and others who make products available to the public are held responsible for the injuries those products cause. Although the word "product" has ...

lawsuit A lawsuit is a proceeding by one or more parties (the plaintiff or claimant) against one or more parties (the defendant) in a civil court of law. The archaic term "suit in law" is found in only a small number of laws still in effect today ...

s for implants.

Death

O'Brien died August 31, 2009, at the University of Tennessee Medical Center in

after suffering a

fall Autumn, also known as fall (especially in US & Canada), is one of the four temperate seasons on Earth. Outside the tropics, autumn marks the transition from summer to winter, in September (Northern Hemisphere) or March ( Southern Hemispher ...

two weeks earlier at her home in Crossville.Associated Press
Former Tenn. state Sen. Annabelle Clement O'Brien dies 2 weeks after fall at her home
September 1, 2009

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Obrien, Anna Belle Clement 1923 births 2009 deaths Democratic Party Tennessee state senators Democratic Party members of the Tennessee House of Representatives People from Crossville, Tennessee People from Dickson, Tennessee Women state legislators in Tennessee 20th-century American women politicians Candidates in the 1982 United States elections Accidental deaths from falls Accidental deaths in Tennessee 21st-century American women Chiefs of staff to the governor of Tennessee 20th-century members of the Tennessee General Assembly

Personal life

Career in elective politics

Death

See also

References

External links