Home of Alma McWhorter West

Alma McWhorter West was a West Virginia suffragist who was chair of the Harrison County Equal Suffrage Organization and a member of the West Virginia Equal Suffrage Association. She was a board member of the West Virginia League of Women Voters and unsuccessfully ran for House of Delegates in 1942. 

Alma McWhorter was born to John M. and Mary Davisson McWhorter on September 9, 1878. She attended West Virginia Wesleyan College and taught for a few years after graduation. She married Olandus West on November 29, 1906.

Alma McWhorter West was active in many social organizations in Harrison County, including the Woman’s Club, the American Red Cross, the YMCA, and fundraising during the World Wars. West was also very involved in the West Virginia Woman’s Christian Temperance Union and in 1915 was the WCTU superintendent for suffrage work.

West was a member of the West Virginia Equal Suffrage Association and was chair of the Harrison County Equal Suffrage Organization. In 1920, she was a member of the state committee for ratification and was present at the legislative sessions for ratification. Later that year, at the charter meeting of the West Virginia League of Women Voters Alma M. West was chosen to be on the first board of the organization.

In 1932, Alma West was a delegate to the Democratic National Convention representing West Virginia and in 1942 she unsuccessfully ran for the WV House of Delegates. In 1934 West was the president of the West Virginia Federation of Women’s Clubs.

Alma McWhorter West died May 14, 1951 and was interred at the Elkview Masonic Cemetery in Clarksburg. 

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