[Deathwatch] Edwin Mechem, former governor, 90

[Deathwatch Central <cdw@slick.org>]

Edwin Mechem, 90; Was Governor, Judge in N.M.

Edwin L. Mechem, New Mexico's only four-term governor, a former U.S.
senator and a federal judge, has died. He was 90.

Mechem died Wednesday at his home in Albuquerque. The cause of death
was not reported, but his family said he had a heart condition that had
worsened recently.

A Republican known as "Big Ed" in his office-seeking days, Mechem
served as a judge for more than 30 years and continued to work at home
until his death.

"He was still a senior judge. His health didn't allow him to go down to
the office very often, but his court clerk brought him his work and
when he felt well enough we would go down there," said Josephine
Mechem, his wife of 27 years.

New Mexico governors were elected to two-year terms when Mechem served,
from 1951 to 1954, 1957-58 and 1961-62.

An Alamogordo native, Mechem graduated from New Mexico A&M, now New
Mexico State University, and earned a law degree from the University of
Arkansas. He went into practice with his father and then joined the FBI
during World War II.

He returned to his law practice after the war, and tried his hand at
politics at a time when the state's Republican Party had difficulty
even finding candidates.

Mechem won a state House seat in 1946. Four years later, he upset
Democrat John Miles to become New Mexico's first Republican governor in
20 years.

He resigned as governor in November 1962 to complete the U.S. Senate
term of Democrat Dennis Chavez, who had died. Mechem lost his bid to
retain the seat in 1964.

In 1970 he was appointed a federal judge by President Nixon, who called
Mechem "Mr. Republican." Mechem took senior status as a judge in 1982,
on his 70th birthday.