23 Facts About Fern Hobbs

Fern Hobbs was an American attorney in the US state of Oregon, and Private Secretary to Oregon Governor Oswald West.

Fern Hobbs was noted for her ambition and several accomplishments as a young woman, and became the highest-paid woman in public service in America in her mid-twenties.

Fern Hobbs later worked for the American Red Cross in Europe and at The Oregon Journal newspaper.

Fern Hobbs's family moved to Salt Lake City, Utah when she was six years old; she lived there for 12 years, finishing high school.

Fern Hobbs soon became a private secretary to the president of the Title Guarantee and Trust Company.

Fern Hobbs took note of Hobbs' strong loyalty to her employer.

Fern Hobbs continued to help raise her younger brother and sister, studied stenography and the law, and worked as a secretary.

In 1913, Fern Hobbs graduated from Willamette University College of Law with a Bachelor of Laws degree, and was admitted to the Oregon State Bar.

Fern Hobbs was hired, and impressed West to the point that he hired her as his private secretary two years later, making her the first Oregon woman appointed to an important political office following the passage of the Oregon Equal Suffrage Amendment.

Fern Hobbs negotiated successfully with congressional committees and the US Department of the Interior to untangle ownership issues around various parcels of land.

County officials did not take care of the problem, so West sent Fern Hobbs, hoping the presence of a woman would prevent any outbreak of violence.

Fern Hobbs was dispatched with orders to restore order and to implement martial law if necessary.

The saloon keepers, who received word that Fern Hobbs was accompanied by law enforcement officers only shortly before her arrival, greeted her by dressing up the town with bunting, blue and pink ribbons, and flowers.

Fern Hobbs presented resignation letters prepared on behalf of city officials, but the officials refused to sign.

Fern Hobbs stopped at the county seat in Baker City to officially remove the town's officials in front of a judge before returning to the state capitol in Salem.

Governor West requested a hearing, seeking Rand's temporary removal from office, and appointed Fern Hobbs to represent the State as special counsel.

One read that Miss Fern Hobbs took off for the hellish place in command of a full battery of field artillery, plus machine gunners, in a special train; that she snapped commands to her troops and had them unlimber and train the heavy pieces on the doomed city.

Fern Hobbs visited the Union County town of Cove in February 1914, to investigate complaints about a saloon.

In that position Fern Hobbs was responsible for notifying dead soldiers' next of kin.

Fern Hobbs returned to Europe in the 1930s, working in the Rhine Valley when it was occupied by France.

Fern Hobbs's eyes are clear and blue behind her glasses.

Fern Hobbs had much rather talk of her two years with the Red Cross in World War I, in France, and with the American Army of Occupation in Germany.

Fern Hobbs died on April 10,1964, at the age of 80.