Joseph Henry Kibbey - Later Life

Later Life

After leaving office, Kibbey returned to his private legal practice and also served as counsel for the Salt River Valley Water User's Association. Among the cases he handled was a challenge to the school segregation law he had vetoed. During the initial trial, Kibbey won a partial injunction when the district court ruled the law created a danger to school children forced to cross railroad tracks to reach a new segregated school. By the time the appeal was heard, Arizona had achieved statehood and the Arizona Supreme Court upheld the legality of the school segregation law in Dameron v. Bayless (1912), 14 Arizona 180.

Upset over President Taft's actions during Arizona's efforts to gain statehood, Kibbey split from the Republicans and supported the Bull Moose Party during the 1912 elections. In 1916 the former governor was the Republican nominee for the U.S. Senate. Kibbey lost his election bid to incumbent Henry Fountain Ashurst.

During his later years, Kibbey decided the automobile was firmly established and that he should learn to drive. After taking lessons, he found that he tended to lose control of the vehicle when operating it at the higher speed afforded by third gear. Consequently he restricted himself to driving in either first or second gear for the rest of his life. Kibbey died in Phoenix on June 14, 1924. He was buried at Greenwood Memorial Park.