A black and white photo postcard that shows Jessica Bevan (second from the left) and her husband John (far right) at a swimming pool in Bisbee. The postcard is unused, and the publisher is unknown. Jessie Bevan Collection.

Jessie Gray was born on January 3, 1872 to Scottish immigrants Jessie McComie and Robert Gray. She studied at Westminster Academy and the University of Utah. After teaching for six years, Jessie married John Bevan who worked as a superintendent in Utah’s mines. They had five children together and lost them all to tuberculosis before the age of twelve; two passed away in Utah and the other three passed away in Bisbee after they moved in 1913. Jessie Bevan refocused her energy running two boarding houses, the Oliver House and the Victoria House. She was heavily involved with community organizations such as the Lowell’s Woman’s Club, The Bisbee Business and Professional Women’s Club, the Garden Club, and the Eastern Star. In 1930, Bevan was elected to the state legislature backed by women’s organizations. Her motto was “preservation of the home” and spoke “I feel that every county should have one woman representative to care for the woman’s problem. Women have such as large place in civic and political life that they should be represented.” She ran against A.J. Morgan and won by a single vote 399-398. In the same year, her husband passed away in February from tuberculosis after twelve years battling the disease. Jessie Bevan served on the Education, Public Institution, and the Mines and Mining committees. At the time, Arizona was dealing with the Great Depression. Contractors were unwilling to pay workers and workers felt that $3 a day was far too low for a wage. Phoenix saw an influx of unemployed men hoping to find work. Her time in legislature came to an end in 1936 when she returned to Bisbee to continue running the Oliver boarding house. Jessie Bevan passed away on February 21, 1964 at the Cochise County Hospital in Douglas and was buried in Memory Gardens. A special commemorative service was held on February 25 at St. John’s Episcopal Church. She was inducted into the Arizona Women’s Hall of Fame in 2006.

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