Beverly McCarney Selby

Beverly McCarney Selby, 92, who served on the staff of President Ronald Reagan, died peacefully in Washington, DC., on Wednesday, January 31, 2024, from natural causes following an extended bout with dementia. As a Senior Policy Analyst in the White House, she developed significant policy initiatives in such areas as the U.S./Mexico border and economic development on Indian reservations, and contributed to a major report to the President on welfare reform. Also during the Reagan years, she served in posts at the Departments of Labor and Interior, and at the Legal Services Corporation. Later, on Capitol Hill, she served on the staff of her longtime friend, Congresswoman Helen Delich Bentley of Maryland, where she developed a strong interest in the importance of the patent clause of the U.S. Constitution, later becoming executive director of the Alliance for American Innovation which advocated for protecting the intellectual property rights of independent inventors.

Beverly (Peterson) was born in Carroll, Iowa, in the midst of the Great Depression. Her parents divorced when she was a toddler, she was mostly raised by her grandparents, and her mother died when Beverly was 19. Her father, Robert McCarney, was a prominent businessman in North Dakota. She married Lawrence Selby, a military veteran, in 1951 and they had two daughters. Her family then spent many years moving to different jobs in different states throughout the western part of the country. In 1964 in South Dakota, Beverly became the leader of an historic hard-fought campaign to help the Sioux Indian tribes to prevail in a statewide referendum on Indian land jurisdiction. This extraordinary effort resulted in her being adopted by the Sioux tribes with the name “Ahawanee” (She Who Wins). She later was active in Republican causes in a number of states, most especially in Arizona where she raised money and supported the campaigns of many candidates, including then-U.S. House Republican Leader John Rhodes and U.S. Sen. Barry Goldwater.

More recently in the Washington, DC area, Beverly organized the Alliance for American Innovation Associates monthly luncheon group of retired military veterans that for over 20 years hosted prominent speakers on important national security topics at the Ft. Myer Officers’ Club in Arlington, Virginia. She was a proud member of the Daughters of the American Revolution and the Zeta Tau Alpha Social Sorority. She attended the University of Iowa, the University of Texas and Arizona State University.

Beverly’s marriage to Lawrence Selby ended in divorce. She is survived by her daughters Michele Zimmerman (and husband Paul) of Scottsdale, Arizona, and Stephanie Robertson (and husband Rich) of Gilbert, Arizona, as well as nine grandchildren and 10 great grandchildren. A visitation will take place on Saturday, February 10th from 2:00pm-4:00pm to be followed with a brief service at 4:00pm at the Demaine Funeral Home, 520 S. Washington Street, Alexandria, Virginia. Interment will be in Arizona at a later date.