Hobby, Oveta Culp (1905-1995)

US public official, lawyer, and journalist. She became director of the Women's Auxiliary Army Corps in October 1942 (the name was changed to Women's Army Corps in 1943), in which some 100,000 women served as clerks, cooks, and drivers. She was commissioned colonel in 1943 and remained director throughout World War II, until July 1945. A post-war publisher of The Houston Post, she was active in Texas Republican politics and was the first secretary of the newly created Department of Health, Education, and Welfare 1953-55, the only woman in the cabinet.

Born in Killeen, Texas, Hobby served as parliamentarian of the Texas House of Representatives 1925-31 and 1939-41. In July 1941 she was appointed chief of the women's division of the Bureau of Public Relations in the War Department. After the war, she returned to The Houston Post, becoming co-editor and publisher. She was active in the election of Dwight D Eisenhower to the presidency and in January 1953 was appointed Federal Security Administrator. Hobby resigned in 1955 to become president and editor of the Post. She became chairman of the board of the newspaper in 1965, a position she held until the paper was sold in 1983. She remained prominent in Republican politics and served on a great many advisory boards and commissions.