Marie Jaquelin Watters Colton (October 20, 1922[1] – September 25, 2018)[2] was an American politician who represented the 51st district in the North Carolina House of Representatives from 1978 to 1994.
Marie Colton | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Member of the North Carolina House of Representatives from the 51st district | |
| In office 1978–1994 | |
| Personal details | |
| Education | Saint Mary's Junior College University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill |
Biography
editColton was born in Charlotte, North Carolina and was educated at Saint Mary's Junior College in Raleigh.[3] In 1943, she graduated from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with a degree in Romance languages. During World War II, Watters served a code-breaker for the United States Army Signal Corps at Arlington Hall.[4] Marie Watters married Henry E. Colton. The couple first lived in Chapel Hill and later in Asheville. After her husband, an Asheville City Councilman, declined to run for state office, Marie Colton campaigned and won the seat. During her sixteen years of service, Colton focused on such issues as conservation and environmentalism, billboards, alternative medicine, tax reform, historic preservation, tourism and economic development in western North Carolina, child welfare protection, domestic violence laws, legislative ethics reform, and allowing local school boards to ban corporal punishment.
Political career
editColton, a Democrat, was the first female Speaker Pro Tempore of the House, serving in that role from 1991 to 1994. In recognition of her advocacy of women and children's issues, Colton was appointed to the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women in 1994. In 1998, she was elected to the Common Cause National Governing Board. Colton was inducted into the North Carolina Women's Hall of Fame in 2009.[5]
Honours
editReferences
edit- ^ "Marie Watters Colton October 20, 1922 - Google Search". www.google.com. Retrieved 26 September 2018.
- ^ "Former North Carolina Legislative Leader Colton Dies at 95". Retrieved 26 September 2018.
- ^ https://www.sms.edu/uploaded/images/about/Press_Kits/Notable_Saint_Mary's_Alumnae.pdf [bare URL PDF]
- ^ Marie Watters Colton-obituary
- ^ "Marie Watters Colton". Charlotte, North Carolina: NC Women's Conference. May 18, 2011. Archived from the original on September 17, 2011. Retrieved 3 July 2015.
- ^ "Marie Watters Colton". Groce Funeral Home. 2018-09-26. Retrieved 2024-11-11.
- ^ "The Asheville Citizen Times Subscription Offers, Specials, and Discounts". subscribe.citizen-times.com. Retrieved 2024-11-11.
External links
edit- Inventory of the Marie Watters Colton Scrapbooks and Audiocassette, 1978-1994, in the Southern Historical Collection, UNC-Chapel Hill.
- Southern Oral History Program Interviews with Marie Watters Colton: North Carolina Politics, October 23, 1995; Southern Women: Women's Leadership and Activism, November 24, 1994
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