Carrie Tingley

Carrie Tingley

Carrie Tingley, wife of Clyde Tingley was a tuberculosis patient who was told that the climate in Ohio would eventually kill her. Her doctors prescribed visiting or moving to the warmer climate of the southwest, and suggested the Methodist Sanitarium in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

While Carrie recovered, Clyde dabbled in local politics. He moved just in time to witness the admittance of New Mexico as a state, and almost immediately he was alarmed over how the dominant Republican Party ran the State. Clyde and Carrie were both outspoken advocates for healthcare - particularly for children.

Tingley was handily elected Governor of New Mexico in 1934 as proponent of Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal programs. During this time, he set up over a dozen hospitals in the state.

Carrie Tingley Children’s Hospital was founded in 1937 by New Mexico First Lady Carrie Tingley in Hot Springs (later named Truth or Consequences) to care for children suffering from polio.