From collection Candidates
Isabella Rife was appointed as County Superintendent of Schools in 1897 to finish out the term of Maidie Rife. A few months later Isabella was the Democratic candidated for County Superintendent of Schools in Beaverhead County, Montana in 1898. She lost that race to Janie V. Carter, her Republican opponent. Two years later Rife, endorsed by the Democrats, the Labor party, and Peoples party, against faced Carter in the race for the office. Rife won and served from 1900 to 1904. In 1903, she married Ernest I. Orr.