|
| Affiliation | Democratic |
|
| Name | Steve Udall |
| Address |
St. John's, Arizona , United States |
| Email | None |
| Website | None |
| Born |
Unknown
|
| Contributor | Barack O-blame-a |
| Last Modifed | RBH
Feb 11, 2019 08:24pm |
| Tags |
|
| Info | Steve Udall's family first settled in Apache County in the 1870's and began a legacy of ranching and public service that continues to this day.
With his wife and best friend of 35 years, Mary Lou (Merrill) Udall, the Udalls are the parents of three children and the grandparents of nine, all of whom reside today near the original Udall family homestead in Apache County. With sons Bart and Spence, Steve and Mary Lou maintain and operate the family ranch that passed from Steve's parents, Sherwood and Melba Whiting Udall, and has been in the Udall family for five generations. Daughter Cameron is a second-year student at the Appalachian School of Law in Virginia and hopes to follow in her father's footsteps and become a practicing attorney.
Beginning with the service of Steve's great-grandfather, David King Udall, in Arizona's Territorial Legislature, Steve's family has produced a Secretary of the Interior to two American Presidents and a Solicitor General to another, four members of Congress, two Chief Justices of the Arizona Supreme Court, two Mayors of Phoenix and five Arizona County Attorneys.
Steve Udall graduated from St. Johns High School in 1960. After a two-year mission for the Mormon Church in Mexico, where he became fluent in Spanish, he received an undergraduate degree from Arizona State University in 1966 and a law degree from the University of Arizona in 1969.
After obtaining his law degree Steve clerked for the Chief Justice of the Arizona Supreme Court, Fred Struckmeyer, before joining the Coconino County Attorney's office as a deputy county prosecutor in 1970. He served as a part-time United States Federal Magistrate and in private practice in Flagstaff until 1976, before returning home to St. Johns to seek the office of Apache County Attorney. With his election by the people of Apache County in 1976, Steve followed Don, Levi, Jess, and Mo Udall as the fifth member of the Udall family to be elected County Attorney in Arizona.
The people of Apache County reelected Steve their County Attorney six times and when he left the County Attorney's office last December to seek the democratic nomination to Congress from Arizona's new, all-rural, First Congressional District, Steve was the longest-serving County Attorney in Arizona history.
Steve's no-nonsense approach to crime fit the values and sensibilities of his rural county constituents and, in addition to his administrative duties, Steve insisted during his first eighteen years in office on personally prosecuting every felony case involving a crime against a child. He prosecuted virtually every kind of criminal case during his tenure, from homicides to cattle rustling, and no state prosecutor's office in Arizona prosecuted more cases involving the theft and desecration of sacred Native American burial sites than the Apache County Attorney's Office.
While Apache County Attorney, Steve's colleagues chose him Arizona County Attorney of the Year and President of the Arizona County Attorneys and Sheriffs Association. He chaired the Arizona Criminal Intelligence System Network, which was responsible for disseminating criminal intelligence to federal, state and local law enforcement authorities.
Steve served as Arizona's representative on the board of the National District Attorneys Association (NDAA) and he chaired the NDAA's Environmental Crimes Unit. Steve's became a familiar face in Phoenix and Washington, D. C. during his tenure, as he fought for the interests of Arizona's law enforcement community at our state capitol and in Washington.
At a farewell dinner in February attended by hundreds of friends and supporters, Steve was presented with numerous honors from representatives of federal, state, and local law enforcement and prosecution agencies around Arizona who had gathered to celebrate their friendship with and respect for Steve and wish him well in his campaign for Congress.
Active in his community, Friday nights usually saw Steve and Mary Lou at a high school sporting event in eastern Arizona, even long after their own children had graduated. He helped found White Mountain Pop Warner Football, started a moot court program in St. Johns and another on the Navajo reservation for youth interested in pursuing a career in the law, and was an active supporter of the Boy Scouts and 4H. He helped found a rural Arizona-New Mexico economic development group, served on the D.N.A. legal services board and has been a member of the Farm Bureau and the Arizona Cattle Growers Association.
Steve would join cousins Mark (Colorado) and Tom (New Mexico) in Congress next January and would become the fifth Udall to serve in the House and the third, after Stewart and Mo, to represent the people of Arizona on Capitol Hill.
|
 | BOOKS |
 |
|
| Title |
Purchase |
Contributor |
|
| Start Date |
End Date |
Type |
Title |
Contributor |
|
| Date |
Category |
Headline |
Article |
Contributor |
|
| INFORMATION LINKS |
|
|
|
