Representative Arch Wallace McFarlane View All Years

ARCH W. MCFARLANE

MR. PRESIDENT: Your committee, appointed to prepare a suitable resolution commemorating the life, character and public service of the late Arch W. McFarlane, begs leave to submit the following:

Arch W. McFarlane was born in Waterloo, Iowa, April 14, 1885, the son of William W. and Emma J. Moss McFarlane. He married Elsie Hawkins, April 6, 1908, in Clinton, Iowa.

He began his legislative career in 1914 when he was elected to the Iowa House of Representatives. He was re-elected in 1916, 1918 and 1920. In 1926 he was elected to the Iowa Senate and in 1928 and 1930 was lieutenant governor of Iowa.

He was again elected to the House of Representatives in 1932, and was re-elected in 1934, 1938, 1940, 1942, 1944, 1946, 1950 and 1952. In 1954 he was elected to the Iowa Senate, the first man to represent the new senatorial district composed of Black Hawk County alone. The district had previously included Grundy County.

Mr. McFarlane was the only Iowan ever to preside over the Senate as lieutenant governor and be sworn in as a returning House member on the same day. He was twice Speaker of the House, and often cited his battle in 1917 to save the infant Iowa Highway Commission as the incident which gave him his greatest satisfaction.

Mr. McFarlane was president of the Waterloo Baseball Association, a member of Waterloo Lodge No. 105, A. F. & A. M., a past patron of the Eastern Star, a member of El Kahir Temple, Cedar Rapids, Sunnyside Country Club, B. P. 0. Elks 290, the Knights of Pythias and Loyal Order of Moose. He was a member of United Commercial Travelers for 53 years and was supreme (international) counselor in 1931. In 1958 he was presented with U. C. T.’s first “Most Valuable Member” plaque.

Mr. McFarlane was the first member of the Pioneer Lawmakers invited to join while still a member of the legislature. He was a past president of the organization, which in 1956 presented his portrait to the Iowa Historical Society. It hangs in the gallery of distinguished Iowans in the Iowa Historical Building in Des Moines.

A year ago, Arch McFarlane State Park, east of La Porte City, was dedicated. The 75-acre wooded track on the Cedar River was dedicated to him in recognition of his service to conservation. The Black Hawk County Sportsmen's Council presented him with an award for outstanding contributions to conservation in 1958, and in 1957, Capitol newsmen presented him with the Distinguished Service Award.

Mr. McFarlane was Speaker pro tempore for the Thirty-seventh General Assembly and Speaker of the House for the Thirty-eighth, Thirty-eighth Extra and Thirty-ninth sessions. He had been chairman of the advisory investment board of the Iowa Public Employees Retirement System and a member of the “Little Hoover” committee studying problems in government reorganization and consolidation in 1956. At the time of his death, Mr. McFarlane did not hold public office. However, he was a Republican candidate to the Iowa House.

Mr. McFarlane had been in the wholesale coal business all his life and was still active in that business at the time of his death which occurred Sunday, July 24, 1960, at 2:30 p.m., in the Iowa headquarters of the Palmer House Hotel in Chicago, where he was attending the National Republican Convention. He is survived by his wife and one brother, Edward, of Waterloo, Iowa. His parents and a sister preceded him in death.

Therefore, Be It Resolved by the Senate of the Fifty-ninth General Assembly of Iowa: That in the passing of the Honorable Arch W. McFarlane, the state has lost a valuable, loyal, and honorable citizen, and one who has contributed unselfishly to his county, state, and nation.

Be It Further Resolved: That a copy of this resolution be spread on the Journal of the Senate, and the Secretary of the Senate be directed to forward an enrolled copy to the members of the family of the deceased.

MELVIN H. WOLF,

J. KENDALL LYNES,

LAWRENCE PUTNEY,

Committee.

The resolution was unanimously adopted.