Shirley Hooper
American politician

Shirley M. (née Collier) Hooper-Garcia (November 5, 1935 – October 24, 2014) was an American politician who served as the 18th New Mexico Secretary of State.
Early life and education
Born in Meadow, Texas, Hooper moved to Lovington, New Mexico with her family in 1939. She graduated from Lovington High School in 1953 and then from the New Mexico Real Estate Institute. She also attended New Mexico Junior College in 1989.
Career
Hooper served as secretary of the speaker of the New Mexico House of Representatives and was assistant chief clerk. Hooper was legal secretary to two judges of the New Mexico Court of Appeals. In 1988, she was elected clerk of Lea County, New Mexico. Hooper served as the Secretary of State of New Mexico from 1979 to 1982.
Death
Hooper died at her home in Roswell, New Mexico.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Shirley Hooper” as american politician. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
Why this record matters
The subject matters to the people & ideas register because the source frames it as american politician. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
The entry’s evidential value lies in the named roles, institutions and publications that can be tested against primary documentation. The source revision retrieved here is dated Apr 23, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q18346476. The first chronological checks are 1935, 2014, 1939 and 1953.
Public reputation and documentary evidence do not always develop together; absence from a summary is not evidence of historical absence. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Read biographical claims against dates, named institutions and the cited references. Distinguish a subject’s later reputation from evidence produced during their lifetime.
- Establishing names and roles
- Building a first chronology
- Locating cited institutions
Personal papers, civil or court records, institutional files and the scholarship cited by the source.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Shirley Hooper”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Shirley Hooper primary sources, Shirley Hooper archive and Shirley research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Shirley Hooper”?
- Which primary records establish identity, chronology and institutional ties?
- How has the subject’s reputation changed across later accounts?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Shirley Hooper” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.