Lila Meade Valentine (born Lila Hardaway Meade; February 4, 1865 – July 14, 1921) was a Virginia education reformer, health-care advocate, and one of the main leaders of her state's participation in the woman's suffrage movement in the United States. She worked to improve public education through her co-founding and leadership of the Richmond Education Association, and advocated for public health by founding the Instructive Visiting Nurses Association, through which she helped eradicate tuberculosis from the Richmond area. Valentine co-founded the Equal Suffrage League of Virginia and served as its first president. Under her leadership the league began a campaign to educate Virginia's citizens and legislators on the topic of women's suffrage and brought the issue to the floor of the General Assembly three times between the years 1912 and 1916. Within 10 years of its founding, the Equal Suffrage League of Virginia became the largest political organization in the state. When Valentine's legislative efforts proved unsuccessful at the state level, she focused her attention on the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment, seeing it become law shortly before her death. Early life, education, and marriage Lila Meade Valentine was born Lila May Hardaway Meade in Richmond, Virginia, on February 4, 1865, the second daughter in a family of five children born to Richard Hardaway Meade and Jane Catherine "Kate" Fontaine Meade. Her father was the co-founder of Meade & Baker Apothecary, which became the largest apothecary in the city of Richmond. Valentine was an avid reader and spent hours in her father's library. Her family was well-off and provided her with a formal education commensurate with her societal standing, but she wished to attend college. However, at the time, most universities in Virginia did not admit women, and Valentine would never go on to receive a degree. On October 25, 1886, at age 21, she married Benjamin Batchelder Valentine at Monumental Episcopal Church. Benjamin, known as B.B., was a banker, insurance executive, writer, and member of the prosperous Valentine family; his father, Mann S. Valentine II, eventually donated funds to found The Valentine. Their marriage was a happy one, and B.B. actively supported Valentine's advocacy work. B.B. also helped supplement her education by hiring tutors from the University of Virginia and the University of Richmond. Valentine challenged societal conventions of the time by not using her married name, Mrs. B.B. Valentine, when writing letters. She and her husband had a