Lenna Lowe Yost

Title: Lenna Lowe Yost
Description: Lenna Lowe Yost played a leading role in the women’s suffrage movement in West Virginia. A native of Marion County, she became president of the West Virginia Equal Suffrage Association in 1916 and oversaw a statewide referendum that year during which West Virginia voters rejected legislation to permit women’s suffrage. Three years later she became chair of the WVESA’s Ratification Committee. Her tireless efforts in this capacity were seen by many as directly responsible for West Virginia’s ratification. In the wake of victory, a group of prominent … reported their views on Yost’s performance to National Women’s Suffrage Association president Carrie Chapman Catt, “Mrs. Yost handling of the situation, as leader in the fight, has been in our judgment, remarkably able.… With rare tact and a soundness of judgment that we have seldom seen equaled, her leadership has brought about a complete victory.”

Yost was a truly remarkable woman. In addition to her role in the women’s suffrage movement, she also held positions of leadership with the Women’s Christian Temperance Union and Federation of Women’s Clubs in West Virginia. She was the first woman member of the WV Board of Education, the first women to hold many positions within the state’s Republican party, and represented the U.S. at two international conferences devoted to fighting alcoholism.