| Office | Speaker pro tempore of the North Carolina House of Representatives |
|---|---|
| Term start | January 30, 1991 |
| Term end | January 1, 1995 |
| 1blankname | Speaker |
| 1namedata | Dan Blue |
| Predecessor | Don Beard |
| Successor | Carolyn Russell |
| State house 1 | North Carolina |
| Term start 2 | January 1, 1979 |
| Term end 2 | January 1, 1995 |
| Constituency 2 |
|
| Predecessor 2 | Claude DeBruhl |
| Successor 2 | Wilma M. Sherrill |
| Birth name | Marie Jaquelin Watters |
| Birth date | October 20, 1922 |
| Birth place | Charlotte, North Carolina, U.S. |
| Death date | September 25, 2018 (aged 95) |
| Death place | Asheville, North Carolina, U.S. |
| Party | Democratic |
| Spouse | Henry E. Colton Jr. (m. September 4, 1943; died August 29, 2011) |
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.
Biography
Colton 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
Colton, 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
- Keep America Beautiful National Award[6]
- Lifetime Achievement Award from the Preservation Society of Asheville + Buncombe County in 2014[7]
References
- ^ "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.
- ^ "Notable Saint Mary’s Alumnae". Saint Mary's School. Retrieved 14 April 2026.
- ^ Marie Watters Colton-obituary
- ^ "Marie Watters Colton". Charlotte, North Carolina: NC Women's Conference. May 18, 2011. Archived September 17, 2011 at the Wayback Machine. 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
- 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