Mary Elisabeth Hansen Mead (June 21, 1935 – June 21, 1996) was an American rancher, businesswoman, and a

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

politician in the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sove ...

Wyoming Wyoming () is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is bordered by Montana to the north and northwest, South Dakota and Nebraska to the east, Idaho to the west, Utah to the southwest, and Colorado to t ...

. She was the daughter of

Governor A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

and

U.S. Senator The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and power ...

Clifford Hansen Clifford Peter Hansen (October 16, 1912October 20, 2009) was an American politician from the state of Wyoming. A Republican, he served as the 26th Governor of Wyoming (January 7, 1963 – January 2, 1967) and subsequently as a United States ...

and the mother of former Governor

Matt Mead Matthew Hansen Mead (born March 11, 1962) is an American attorney, businessman, and politician who served as the 32nd Governor of Wyoming from 2011 to 2019. A member of the Republican Party, he previously was the United States Attorney for the D ...

. In 1990, Mead was the unsuccessful

GOP The Republican Party, also referred to as the GOP ("Grand Old Party"), is one of the Two-party system, two Major party, major contemporary political parties in the United States. The GOP was founded in 1854 by Abolitionism in the United Stat ...

nominee for governor, having been defeated by the incumbent Democrat Mike Sullivan of

Douglas Douglas may refer to: People * Douglas (given name) * Douglas (surname) Animals *Douglas (parrot), macaw that starred as the parrot ''Rosalinda'' in Pippi Longstocking * Douglas the camel, a camel in the Confederate Army in the American Civil ...

Converse County Converse County is a county located in the U.S. state of Wyoming. As of the 2020 United States Census, the population was 13,751. Its county seat is Douglas. History Converse County was created in 1888 by the legislature of the Wyoming Ter ...

in southeastern Wyoming. In the general election, Sullivan prevailed with 104,638 votes (65.4 percent) to Mead's 55,471 ballots (34.6 percent). Mead polled only 4,311 more votes against Sullivan than she had received in her

closed primary Primary elections, or direct primary are a voting process by which voters can indicate their preference for their party's candidate, or a candidate in general, in an upcoming general election, local election, or by-election. Depending on the c ...

in August.

Biography

Mead was born in

Jackson, Wyoming Jackson is a town in Teton County, Wyoming, United States. The population was 10,760 at the 2020 census, up from 9,577 in 2010. It is the largest town in Teton County and its county seat. Jackson is the principal town of the Jackson, WY-ID Mic ...

to Clifford Peter Hansen (1912–2009), a native of Lincoln County, and the former Martha Close (1914–2011), who was reared in

Sheridan Sheridan may refer to: People Surname *Sheridan (surname) *Philip Sheridan (1831–1888), U.S. Army general after whom the Sheridan tank is named *Richard Brinsley Sheridan (1751–1816), Irish playwright (''The Rivals''), poet and politician ...

. Her brother, Peter Arthur Hansen (born 1936), resides in

Cheyenne The Cheyenne ( ) are an Indigenous people of the Great Plains. Their Cheyenne language belongs to the Algonquian language family. Today, the Cheyenne people are split into two federally recognized nations: the Southern Cheyenne, who are enr ...

, Wyoming. In 1957, she received her

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four yea ...

degree in history from the

University of Wyoming The University of Wyoming (UW) is a public land-grant research university in Laramie, Wyoming. It was founded in March 1886, four years before the territory was admitted as the 44th state, and opened in September 1887. The University of Wyoming ...

in Laramie. She married Peter Bradford Mead (born 1933), who coincidentally partly bears the same name as her father, brother, and grandfather. For more than twenty years, she and Peter managed the family cattle ranch, originally homesteaded by her grandparents, Peter Christofferson Hansen and the former Sylvia Irene Wood. The Meads reared three children. After their divorce, she ran the ranch with her parents and then with her older son, Bradford Scott Mead, and his wife, Katherine L. "Kate" Mead. In 1995, she married Dick Steinhour. Mead was a president of the Wyoming Business Alliance and a member of the University of Wyoming Alumni Board, the Wyoming Centennial Commission, and the National Public Lands Advisory Council. She was active in both the

Wyoming Stock Growers Association The Wyoming Stock Growers Association (WSGA) is an American cattle organization started in 1872 among Wyoming cattle ranchers to standardize and organize the cattle industry but quickly grew into a political force that has been called "the de facto ...

and the Wyoming Tax Payers Association. In Jackson, she sat on the boards of St. John's Hospital and the Jackson State Bank. She lived on the Mead Ranch, officially the "Lower Bar BC", which prior to its salefor more than $100 millionwas one of the largest pastoral private holdings in Teton County. The Hansens and Meads were particularly known for

conservation Conservation is the preservation or efficient use of resources, or the conservation of various quantities under physical laws. Conservation may also refer to: Environment and natural resources * Nature conservation, the protection and manageme ...

and stewardship activities on their properties. By December 2001, the Lower Bar BC had become no longer economically productive and surrendered its lease in Grand Teton Park.

Death and legacy

Though considered an expert

horsewoman Equestrianism (from Latin , , , 'horseman', 'horse'), commonly known as horse riding (Commonwealth English) or horseback riding (American English), includes the disciplines of riding, driving, and vaulting. This broad description includes the ...

, Mead was killed on her 61st birthday in an accident while working cattle on leased land in

Grand Teton National Park Grand Teton National Park is an American national park in northwestern Wyoming. At approximately , the park includes the major peaks of the Teton Range as well as most of the northern sections of the valley known as Jackson Hole. Grand Teton ...

near the Mead Ranch in Spring Gulch. She was thrown by her horse, which then collapsed upon her. In addition to Governor Matt Mead, who is also a former U.S. attorney in Cheyenne, Mead's other children are Bradford Scott "Brad" Mead (born July 24, 1957) and Muffy Mead-Ferro, an author in

Salt Lake City Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the capital and most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the seat of Salt Lake County, the most populous county in Utah. With a population of 200,133 in 2020, th ...

Utah Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to its ...

. Brad Mead and his wife, Katherine L. "Kate" Mead (also born 1957), are attorneys in Jackson. Kate Mead, a

Vermont Vermont () is a U.S. state, state in the northeast New England region of the United States. Vermont is bordered by the states of Massachusetts to the south, New Hampshire to the east, and New York (state), New York to the west, and the Provin ...

native who came to Wyoming on a

skiing Skiing is the use of skis to glide on snow. Variations of purpose include basic transport, a recreational activity, or a competitive winter sport. Many types of competitive skiing events are recognized by the International Olympic Committee ( ...

scholarship, was the Republican nominee in 2006 for the District 16 seat in the

Wyoming House of Representatives The Wyoming House of Representatives is the lower house of the Wyoming Legislature, Wyoming State Legislature. There are 60 Representatives in the House, representing an equal number of single-member constituent districts across the Wyoming, st ...

. Both Bradford Mead and Clifford Hansen recorded interviews to be used as a part of the new Jackson Hole Historical Society Museum, to be unveiled in downtown Jackson. Her children established the dual Mary Mead Memorial Scholarship and Graduate Fellowship for Women in Agriculture at the University of Wyoming. These awards honor her lifetime commitment to the Wyoming livestock industry. The Mead children also released this eulogy to their mother:

One of Jackson's pre-eminent ranchers was "a woman born to the land that she knew every inch of -- every ditch, every bog, every dry patch, every likely place to look for an errant bunch of cows during spring gathering.
She was a diligent midwife to nearly one thousand mother cows every spring, she kept many an all-night vigil with a cow in difficulty or bottle-feeding a shivering newborn as she talked to it and rubbed it with a blanket on her kitchen floor.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mead, Mary 1935 births 1996 deaths 20th-century American businesspeople 20th-century American businesswomen Accidental deaths in Wyoming Deaths by horse-riding accident in the United States People from Jackson, Wyoming Ranchers from Wyoming University of Wyoming alumni Wyoming Republicans Candidates in the 1990 United States elections 20th-century American women politicians 20th-century American politicians 20th-century American Episcopalians