Gressie Umsted Carnes (1903-1979)

From the Camden News, September 16, 1974.

  Long a leading Democrat in the "Natural State", Gressie Umsted Carnes served as Arkansas representative on the Democratic National Committee for over three decades, and in that capacity also served as a delegate to multiple Democratic National Conventions. In addition to her years of service in the Democratic party, Carnes attained further distinction through charitable endeavors, being a booster for the Arkansas Crippled Children's Hospital Board and the Girl Scouts. The daughter of  Sidney Albert and Edna (Edwards) Umsted, Gressie Umsted was born in Berniece, Louisiana on August 9th of either 1903 or 1905 (years vary). 

  The Umsted family relocated to Arkansas shortly after their daughter's birth, and her early education was obtained in the public schools of El Dorado. Umsted later attended the Gulf Park women's college in Mississippi as well as the Henderson-Brown College in Arkadelphia, Arkansas. Gressie Umsted married on May 30, 1926, to businessman Samuel Jacob "Jack" Carnes (1896-1958). The couple was wed for over thirty years and adopted one son, Sidney, who lost his life in a car accident in 1946. In addition to being a pottery company executive, Jack Carnes was musically inclined, playing both piano and organ. 

   After becoming active in Democratic circles in Arkansas, Gressie Umsted Carnes quickly advanced to the front rank in party affairs and in 1936 served as part of the Arkansas delegation to the Democratic National Convention held in Philadelphia. In 1944 Carnes was elected as Arkansas representative on the Democratic National Committee. In this capacity, she attended multiple Democratic National Conventions as a delegate (including the 1948, 1952, and 1956 conventions), and served as committeewoman for 35 years until her death in 1979.

  Carnes's long period of service saw her be a prominent booster for Democratic candidates both in Arkansas and Washington, D.C., and was a leading backer in the political career of David Hampton Pryor (born 1934), later to serve a term as Governor and three terms as U.S. Senator from Arkansas. Acknowledging Franklin Roosevelt as her "favorite president to have served under", Carnes attended Roosevelt's inauguration ceremony in January 1945 and also visited the White House prior to the president's attending the Yalta Conference in February 1945.

From the Camden News, April 16, 1952.

   In addition to her long service to the Democratic party, Gressie Carnes achieved further distinction through numerous civic and philanthropic endeavors. During the 1930s she aided in raising money for victims of Mississippi river flooding in Arkansas and met with famed humorist and actor Will Rogers, with who she "flew in a small plane all over the state and some surrounding states to raise money for flood relief." She would serve as president of the Arkansas Crippled Children's Hospital Board, and led in the fundraising efforts to construct a children's convalescent home in Jacksonville, Arkansas. This facility would be named the Gressie Carnes Convalescence Home For Crippled Children in her honor and was dedicated in June 1948. Carnes also figured prominently in the establishment of the Arkansas Girl Scouts in the 1930s, and had a long affiliation with the National Board of the Easter Seal Society of the United States, serving as a trustee.

  Widowed in 1958, Gressie Carnes continued prominence in Democratic circles well into the 1970s, and during the 1976 Democratic National Convention proceedings oversaw a lavish party held at New York's Waldorf Astoria Hotel. She was the namesake of the Gressie Carnes Woman of the Year Award, and in 1974 was honored at a breakfast banquet meeting of the Arkansas State Democratic Committee. Carnes died in Camden, Arkansas on June 15, 1979, and was later interred at the Greenwood Cemetery in that city.