Carrie Towner seeks Utah State Party Office

PRESS RELEASE: January 12, 2007

Politics and the law run deep in our family, so it’s no surprise that another Towner plans to throw their hat into the political ring. My great grandfather was Judge Rodelphus Gilmore, who served on the Colorado Supreme Court. My grandfather was John Breckenridge Richardson who in 1911 was instrumental in getting Statehood for Arizona in 1912. He was asked by his community to seek office in the new State House and was elected to the first session of the Arizona Legislature. While on break from the Legislature he ran into this barely five foot tall 100 lb fireball teacher in Tucson named Faith Gilmore at a Masonic Dance, and they fell instantly in love. Grandpa Breck was very active in the Masonic Temple, and advanced into the order of the Shriners.

Only one problem prevented them from getting married right away however, and that was a territorial law banning female school teachers from getting married. So they were secretly married and Grandpa Breck returned to Phoenix for the Legislature. Grandpa then introduced legislation that would overturn the law banning female teachers from getting married. Well word had got out about the secret marriage and Grandpa’s fellow Legislators played a little joke on him. After he presented his bill, which he anticipated little or no opposition, the House went into a furry. He was badgered from both sides of the house, and real fear set it that his bill might actually be defeated. However after sweating out the debate, they all started to laugh and passed the bill unanimously, congratulating Grandpa Breck on his Marriage to that activist school teacher. With one legislator saying, “The next thing them women will want will be the Vote”. How prophetic.

Towner family heritage and the United States Congress

Horace Mann Towner (October 23, 1855–November 23, 1937) was a Republican United States Representative from Iowa from 1911 until 1923, when President Warren G. Harding appointed him Governor of Puerto Rico, a post he held until 1929. Towner also served as a county superintendent of schools, a judge, and a lecturer on constitutional law in Iowa. During his congressional service, Towner was chairman for four years of the Committee on Insular Affairs of the House of Representatives.

Horace Towner was a pot stirrer, and his main issue was healthcare for women and children. After seeing the huge infant mortality rate and the poor health of many World War I draftees, with 29.1% judged unfit for service, Horace felt that the Federal Government should provide funding to States for the creation of child hygiene divisions in state-run public health agencies; the production and distribution of 2 influential, instructional pamphlets ("Prenatal Care" and "Infant Care"); and campaigns involving free diagnostic evaluations by health care professionals, which in turn could assist prenatal care.

This was quite controversial for Republican Legislation at the time, but the Sheppard-Towner Act was proposed in 1918 and signed into law in 1921. http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/cgi/content/full/115/4/S1/1129

My Father Elverne Gorham (Hap) Towner, Naval Officer, Pearl Harbor, South Pacific, Korea, Japanese Occupation commander. http://politicalspyglass.blogspot.com/2006/12/remember-pear-harbor-and-my-dad-hap.html

Carrie Lynn Towner
Carrie married her High School sweetheart Mark in Oakland California in 1976. Carrie and Mark built a successful medical consulting business together for nearly 20 years, during which time they raised five daughters, and both received University degrees. Mark graduated as a research scientist with a BS degree in Fisheries Biology, and Carrie a cum laude in Business both from the University of Washington. Carrie always wanted to attend Law School, but knew she would not be able to devote the time required while raising her family, so after our youngest daughter enrolled at UVSC in aviation in 2004, Carrie applied and was accepted to the University of Utah School of Law, the only Grandmother in her class. Carrie is currently clerking full time in Salt Lake City with Stirba and Associates, and expects to graduate in the spring and take the Bar exam this summer.

Carrie has been very involved in the Utah Republican Party. She ran for the GOP nomination for congress in 2002, was elected Salt Lake County Party Treasurer, appointed as finance chair, was elected to the State Central Committee and recently elected as the Senate Chair for District 2, and is currently a county delegate and chairs the Salt Lake County Republican Party SLAP (Salt Lake Action Plan) for the 2007-2008 election cycles.

Carrie will be seeking the State Party Office of vice Chair at the February 10th State Central Committee.