As the state officials who oversee elections, the 33 secretaries of state from across the nation currently meeting near Beckley are looking ahead to fall’s races. But at a luncheon on Monday, several veterans of the office from West Virginia provided them with some historical perspective on their job.

Oldest among them, at 97, was former West Virginia Secretary of State Helen Holt, who held the office from 1957-1958. Appointed by Gov. Cecil Underwood to replace the deceased Daniel O’Brien, she was the first female secretary of state in West Virginia and the first woman to hold any statewide office. At the time of her appointment, Holt was the recent widow of a U.S. Senator from West Virginia, Rush Holt Sr.

On her first day at the capitol, Holt says a male clerk essentially offered to do her job for her.

“‘Just tell me how you want your name signed and I can take care of everything,’ he said.”

She told the man gently that she could probably handle it.

While her husband served as Senator, Holt served in numerous informal capacities as a public servant, “the hardest-working unpaid attache in the Senate,” as she puts it. All this work earned her the respect of her male colleagues.

“I worked so closely with my husband that they felt they knew me too. Even the newsmen accepted me because when Rush was alive, if he didn’t have time to talk, they used to talk to me. They knew because he trusted me that they could trust me too.”

A mother of three, Holt served the two years of O’Brien’s unexpired term. After she ran for office and lost to Joe Burdett, she was appointed by President Dwight Eisenhower to the Federal Housing Administration in Washington, D.C. There, she worked for 23 years on a program to house the nation’s elderly. She now lives in one of the facilities that she helped to create.

Current West Virginia Secretary of State Natalie Tennant’s curiosity about Holt was initially piqued when she saw the woman’s portrait in her office among a sea of male faces. She contacted Holt and arranged for a personal interview.

“The former reporter in me wanted to make sure her story was documented. I didn’t know what she was going to be like, but I soon realized I had found a firecracker,” said Tennant.

“I think of the fear and uncertainties she must have had, no longer having a life partner and being asked to do something she had never done before. But despite all that, she stuck with her principles and morals.”

Though a female secretary of state is no longer the novelty it was in the 1950s, Tennant sees distinct parallels between her term and Holt’s. Both women, for example, oversaw special elections for deceased members of the Senate. In fact, when the Executive Committee of West Virginia’s Republican Party filed suit against Tennant, contesting the validity of 2010’s ballot to replace the late Sen. Robert Byrd, Tennant referred back to the ballot used for the special election during Holt’s term.

Holt rode the train down from her home in Washington, D.C., accompanied by her son, Rush Holt Jr., a U.S. Representative for the state of New Jersey.

“It’s been 10 years since I’ve been here and it’s fun to see the changes along the way. But it’s still the beautiful state it was 50 years ago.

“I just came here as a bride. Most West Virginians had lived here for at least three generations and were very slow to welcome newcomers. The fact that they accepted me was the biggest compliment I’ve ever been paid.”

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Early in Holt’s tenure, a certain aspiring candidate for U.S. House of Representatives known for his showman-like style walked into her office, accompanied by a gaggle of women singing a catchy political jingle, and filed to run in the upcoming election. It was Ken Hechler, another former Secretary who took the podium at Monday’s event. At 96-years-old, Hechler closely rivals Holt for the distinction of oldest living former secretary of state.

Still an excellent showman, Hechler spent most of his address pitching attendees to buy one of his several books. He succeeded, selling out of all he brought and taking back orders on top of that.

When asked how the office of secretary of state differs today from when he served, Hechler focused particularly on what he sees as the increasing influence of money in the political system.

“The influence of money on politics is getting dangerously more serious,” he said.

“I want to be sure secretaries of state are not afraid to challenge political corruption. West Virginia is unfortunately a state that has shut its eyes to corruption. We haven’t had a really good fighter for clean elections since (William) Marland was governor.”

Nevertheless, he seems satisfied with how his contemporary counterpart is doing her job.

“I think the office is going in the right direction. Secretary Tennant, keep on doing what you’re doing,” he urged.  

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The conference of the National Association of Secretaries of State (NASS), whose corporate sponsors include Brickstreet Insurance, Chesapeake Energy, Enterprise, and the West Virginia Coal Association, is being held at the Resort at Glade Springs and continues through Wednesday. All appears to be running smoothly.

“People have been thrilled with not just the beauty of West Virginia, but also the ease of meeting in this facility,” said Mark Ritchie, Minnesota secretary of state and the current president of NASS.

“We’re experiencing heritage and culture mixed with the nuts and bolts of our work.”

Tuesday’s session will include a presentation by representatives of the Boy Scouts from The Summit: Bechtel Family National Scout Reserve being built in Fayette County, as well as ongoing discussions on voter participation and preparation for 2012 elections.