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Clyde K. Tingley (born January 5 1882, died December 24 1960) was a politician from New Mexico who served as Governor, and was a children's healthcare advocate.
Biography
Tingley was born on a farm near London, Ohio. He lived a modest life of farming. When married Carrie Tingley, it would change his life. Carrie was a tuberculosis patient, who was told that the climate in Ohio would eventually kill her. Her doctors prescribed visiting or moving to the warmer climate of the southwest, and suggested the Methodist Sanitarium in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
Mr. and Mrs. Tingley left Ohio in 1910 for New Mexico. While his wife recovered, Clyde dabbled in local politics. He moved just in time to witness the admittance of New Mexico as a state, and almost immediately he was alarmed over how the dominant Republican Party ran the State.
Tingley's first political positions were in the Albuquerque City Commission (later known as the City Council) as alderman (1912-1920. He later served as district maintenance superintendent of the New Mexico State Highway Department for the Albuquerque district (1925-1926). He was also a delegate to Democratic National Conventions of (1928, 1932, and 1936). Through this entire period, his wife's illness was at his heart, and he was an outspoken advocate for healthcare - particularly for children.
Tingley was handily elected Governor of New Mexico in 1934 as proponent of Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal programs. During this time, he set up over a dozen hospitals in the state, including the Carrie Tingley Hospital in honor of his wife, to help children with tuberculosis. He was re-elected in 1936, becoming the first Governor of New Mexico to serve two consecutive terms. In 1938 he successfully resurrected the defunct New Mexico State Fair by breaking ground at the Fairgrounds. The center of the Fairgrounds, Tingley Coliseum is named for him.
After the end of his tenure as Governor, he was elected chairman of the Albuquerque City Commission (1940-1953), a position later known as Mayor of Albuquerque.
Tingley died in Albuquerque at the age of 89.
"Clyde Tingley"