Coke Stevenson
| Coke R. Stevenson | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| 35th Governor of Texas | |
|
In office August 4, 1941 – January 21, 1947 |
|
| Lieutenant |
Vacant John L. Smith |
| Preceded by | W. Lee O'Daniel |
| Succeeded by | Beauford H. Jester |
| 31st Lieutenant Governor of Texas | |
|
In office January 17, 1939 – August 4, 1941 |
|
| Governor | W. Lee O'Daniel |
| Preceded by | Walter Frank Woodul, Sr |
| Succeeded by | John Lee Smith |
| Member of the Texas House of Representatives from District 86 | |
|
In office January 8, 1929 – January 10, 1939 |
|
| Preceded by | Roscoe Runge |
| Succeeded by | Claude Henry Gilmer |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
March 20, 1888 Mason County, Texas, U.S. |
| Died | June 28, 1975 (aged 87) San Angelo, Texas, U.S. |
| Resting place | Stevenson Family Ranch Cemetery Telegraph, Texas |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Spouse(s) |
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| Children |
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| Profession | Rancher |
| Religion | Methodist |
Jane Stevenson Murr Chandler (born 1956)
Coke Robert Stevenson (March 20, 1888 – June 28, 1975) was the 35th Governor of Texas from 1941 to 1947. He was the only 20th century Texan politician to serve as Speaker of the Texas House of Representatives, as lieutenant governor, and then as governor. In 1966, Recorded Texas Historic Landmark marker number 5118, honoring Stevenson, was placed on the Kimble County Courthouse grounds in Junction, Texas.
He was born near the geographic center of Texas in Mason County to Robert Milton and Virginia Hurley Stevenson. His parents named him for Governor Richard Coke. As a teenager, he went into the business of hauling freight with a six-horse wagon. While hauling freight he studied bookkeeping by the light of his nighttime campfires as part of a plan to begin a business or banking career. Offered a position as a janitor for the Junction State Bank, he accepted and sold his freight hauling business. He was soon promoted to bookkeeper, and he became the bank's cashier when he was twenty.
Stevenson studied law at night in the office of attorney and judge Marvin Ellis Blackburn while working at the bank, and attained admission to the bar in 1913.
In 1913, Stevenson organized and became president of the First National Bank in Junction, the seat of Kimble County. He also became active in several other business ventures, including a warehouse, movie theater, hardware store, automobile dealership, newspaper, drug store, and hotel. He was Kimble County Attorney from 1914 to 1918 and Kimble County Judge, the county's chief administrative and executive position, from 1919 to 1921.
In 1928 he was elected to the Texas House of Representatives as a Democrat, and served there from 1929 until 1939. In 1933, he was elected Speaker of the House; he was re-elected in 1935, becoming the first person in Texas history to serve two consecutive terms as Speaker. After five terms in the House, he was elected lieutenant governor in 1938, serving under Governor W. Lee "Pappy" O'Daniel.
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