Sarah Lee Fain
| Sarah Lee Fain | |
|---|---|
| Member of the Virginia House of Delegates from Norfolk City | |
|
In office January 9, 1924 – January 8, 1930 |
|
| Succeeded by | Colgate Darden |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
Sarah Lee Odend'hal November 23, 1888 Norfolk, Virginia, U.S. |
| Died | July 20, 1962 (aged 73) California, U.S. |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Spouse(s) | Walter Colquitt Fain |
| Alma mater | University of Virginia |
| Religion | Episcopalian |
Sarah Lee Odend'hal Fain (November 23, 1888 – July 20, 1962) was a schoolteacher and politician from Virginia. With Helen Timmons Henderson, in 1923 she was one of the first two women elected to the Virginia House of Delegates, and to the Virginia General Assembly as a whole.
Sarah Lee Odend'hal was a Norfolk native, and was educated locally at Leache-Wood Seminary and Hemmingway High School, graduating from the latter in 1907. She then embarked on a teaching career, spending twelve years in the city's public schools as both a teacher and administrator, while taking summer courses through the University of Virginia. The University did not directly offer diplomas to women, but the work she did in her summer courses provided her with the equivalent of an undergraduate degree in education and administration. Odend'hal married Walter Colquitt Fain on September 8, 1917, and began a career in civic life shortly thereafter. As it was considered unusual at the time for a married woman to remain employed as a schoolteacher, she turned her attention to her husband's construction firm, for which she acted as secretary and treasurer. This led to her interest in public life, and she soon became active in organizations including the United Daughters of the Confederacy, the Daughters of the American Revolution, and the local Episcopal Church.
Fain's first volunteer activity came when she supported the American Red Cross and sold Liberty bonds to support the American effort in World War I. This sparked her interest in public life, and when the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution was ratified in 1920 she joined the local branch of the League of Women Voters and became active in local Democratic Party politics, although she had not previously been particularly known as a suffragist and had not joined the local branch of the Equal Suffrage League. It was her work for the reelection of Claude A. Swanson as United States Senator, in 1922, that led to her decision to run for a seat in the House of Delegates; Fain had been so successful at convincing female voters in Norfolk to vote for him that her friends suggested she try her hand at politics herself. Initially reluctant, she was soon persuaded; her husband served as her campaign manager and treasurer.
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