Alfred M. Derr was a Democratic

Democratic Party (United States)

The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...

 politician from Idaho

Idaho

Idaho is a state in the Rocky Mountain area of the United States. The state's largest city and capital is Boise. Residents are called "Idahoans". Idaho was admitted to the Union on July 3, 1890, as the 43rd state....

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Life

Both he and his wife, Hattie A. Derr (1905—1994), were students at University of Idaho

University of Idaho

The University of Idaho is the State of Idaho's flagship and oldest public university, located in the rural city of Moscow in Latah County in the northern portion of the state...

. His senatorial career started in 1937, and he was a member of the Idaho Legislature

Idaho Legislature

The Idaho Legislature is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Idaho. It consists of the upper Idaho Senate and the lower Idaho House of Representatives. The Idaho Senate contains 35 Senators, who are elected from 35 districts...

, serving five terms in the Idaho State Senate (three of them : 1937, 1939 to 1942, 1955 to 1958). During his first senatorial tenure his wife ringed in for Mr. Derr as he was having a surgery. This was the first instance of a woman serving as a senator. He was the Democratic nominee for Governor of Idaho in 1958. Derr was defeated by the Republican

Republican Party (United States)

The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...

 incumbent, Robert E. Smylie

Robert E. Smylie

Robert Eben Smylie was a politician and attorney from Idaho. He served as the 24th Governor of Idaho from 1955 to 1967. He was a member of the Idaho Republican Party....

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Apart from his political career, he lived the life of a farmer

Farmer

A farmer is a person engaged in agriculture, who raises living organisms for food or raw materials, generally including livestock husbandry and growing crops, such as produce and grain...

, was a teacher and a logger

Lumberjack

A lumberjack is a worker in the logging industry who performs the initial harvesting and transport of trees for ultimate processing into forest products. The term usually refers to a bygone era when hand tools were used in harvesting trees principally from virgin forest...

. He had son, Allen Derr, who wrote for the Idaho Press Club. Other children include Beverly Shields, John Derr, James Derr, and Jane Betts.