Colleen House (March 17, 1952 – December 24, 2022) was an American politician who served as a member of the

Michigan House of Representatives The Michigan House of Representatives is the lower house of the Michigan Legislature. There are 110 members, each of whom is elected from constituencies having approximately 77,000 to 91,000 residents, based on population figures from the 2020 ...

, from 1974 to 1976 and 1983 to 1986.

Early life and education

House was born in

Bay City, Michigan Bay City is a city in Bay County, Michigan, United States, and its county seat. The population was 32,661 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. The city is located just upriver from the Saginaw Bay on the Saginaw River. It is the princip ...

, on March 17, 1952, to parents James Daniel and Kathleen House. House graduated from All Saints Central High School in 1969. House earned a B.A. in political science from

Michigan State University Michigan State University (Michigan State or MSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan, United States. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State o ...

in 1973.

Career

House was elected to the

in a special election in 1974. House represented the 101st district until December 31, 1976. From 1977-78, she served as director of public affairs for the Michigan Chamber of Commerce. In 1980, House helped run the presidential primary campaign of George H.W. Bush in Michigan and his upset victory over front-runner Ronald Reagan helped him to remain in the race until the GOP National Convention, where Reagan tapped him as his vice presidential runningmate. On November 2, 1982, House was again elected to the Michigan House of Representatives where she represented the 99th district from January 12, 1983, to December 31, 1986. In 1986, she became the first woman to run for governor of Michigan, but she lost the Republican primary. But the winner, Wayne County Executive Bill Lucas, subsequently named House as lieutenant governor runningmate—thereby making her the first-ever woman to be nominated by Republicans for Michigan's second-highest office. In November 1986, the Lucas-Engler ticket lost to Democratic Gov. James Blanchard and Lieutenant Governor Martha Griffiths. House came to Washington DC in 1989, where she served as director of intergovernmental affairs at the U.S. Department of Commerce and in the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). House served as International Political Liaison for the International Republican Institute (IRI) from 1993-2015 where, according to IRI President Lorne Craner, "Colleen oversaw much of our effort to secure Americans to train their counterparts in electoral politics and competing at the polling place. She was inarguably a figure of consequence in the history of IRI."

Personal life and death

In 1975, House married state representative

John Engler John Mathias Engler (born October 12, 1948) is an American politician, lawyer, businessman, and lobbyist who served as the 46th governor of Michigan from 1991 to 2003. Considered one of the country's top lobbyists, he is a member of the Republi ...

in Bay City. In 1986, House and Engler divorced. In 2002, House married ''

Newsmax Newsmax, Inc. (or Newsmax.com, previously styled NewsMax) is an American cable news, political opinion commentary, and digital media company founded by Christopher Ruddy in 1998. It has been variously described as conservative, right-wing, an ...

'' political columnist and

White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue Northwest (Washington, D.C.), NW in Washington, D.C., it has served as the residence of every U.S. president ...

correspondent, John Gizzi. House was

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

. Long active at St. Matthew’s Cathedral in Washington, D.C., House was a lector at Masses, trained other parishioners to read portions of the Mass and served as a pontifical lector House died from complications with dementia at her home in

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

, on December 24, 2022, at the age of 70.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:House, Colleen 1952 births 2022 deaths Catholics from Michigan Politicians from Bay City, Michigan Michigan State University alumni Women state legislators in Michigan Republican Party members of the Michigan House of Representatives Spouses of Michigan politicians 20th-century American women politicians 21st-century American women 20th-century members of the Michigan Legislature