Wingo, Effiegene Locke, 1883-1962

Effiegene Locke Wingo (April 13, 1883 – September 19, 1962) was a legislative aide and politician. A member of the Democratic Pasrty, she served as U.S. Representative from Arkansas following the death of her husband, Otis Theodore Wingo, serving from November 1930 to March 1933.

Born Effiegene Locke in Lockesburg in Sevier County in southwestern Arkansas, she attended public and private schools and Union Female College in Oxford, Mississippi before graduating from Maddox Seminary in Little Rock in 1901. Shortly after graduation she met lawyer Otis Theodore Wingo, in De Queen, Arkansas, at a Confederate veterans’ reunion; the couple soon married. She lived in Little Rock and Texarkana, Arkansas, before establishing her permanent residence in De Queen in Sevier County.

In 1926 a car accident severely injured Representative Wingo, thrusting Effiegene into a far more active role. For four years she worked as an unpaid assistant in her husband’s office, becoming his point of contact during long absences as he sought to recuperate from his injuries. Following an emergency operation, Otis Wingo died in Baltimore, Maryland, on October 21, 1930. His dying wish was that his wife be chosen as his successor. Facing no competition, Effiegene Wingo was elected simultaneously on November 4, 1930, to complete her husband’s term in the 71st Congress (1929–1931) and to a full term 72nd Congress (1931–1933). She garnered 21,700 votes, more than four of the state’s six other Representatives. Sworn in on December 1, 1930, Effiegene Wingo received a post on the Committee on Accounts and the Committee on Insular Affairs for the remaining months of the 71st Congress. In the following Congress, she served on another coveted and influential committee, Foreign Affairs. In February 1932, citing her physician’s directions, Wingo announced that she would not be a candidate for re-election.

In 1934, Wingo co-founded the National Institute of Public Affairs in Washington, D.C. She also engaged in educational and research work. Wingo died September 19, 1962, in Burlington, Ontario, Canada, while visiting a son. She is interred along with her husband at Rock Creek Cemetery in Washington, D.C.