Dorothy Wham (née Stonecipher; January 5, 1925 – October 20, 2019) was an American politician from the state of

Colorado Colorado is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States. It is one of the Mountain states, sharing the Four Corners region with Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. It is also bordered by Wyoming to the north, Nebraska to the northeast, Kansas ...

Early life

Wham was born on January 5, 1925, as Dorothy Stonecipher, in

Centralia, Illinois Centralia is a city in Clinton, Jefferson, Marion, and Washington counties in the U.S. state of Illinois with the largest portion in Marion County. The city is the largest in three counties, Clinton, Marion, and Washington, but it is not a ...

. She graduated from

MacMurray College MacMurray College was a private college in Jacksonville, Illinois, United States. Its enrollment in fall 2015 was 570. Founded in 1846, the college closed in May 2020. History Although founded in 1846 by a group of Methodist clergymen as the ...

, earning her bachelor's degree in 1946. She married her high school sweetheart,

Robert Wham Robert Shanklin Wham (January 18, 1926 – December 21, 2011) was an American lawyer and politician. Background Wham was born in Centralia, Illinois. He married Dorothy Stonecipher in 1947. Wham graduated from University of Illinois College of ...

, in 1947, and earned her master's degree from the

University of Illinois The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC, U of I, Illinois, or University of Illinois) is a public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Champaign–Urbana metropolitan area, Illinois, United ...

in 1949. In 1950, they moved to

Montrose, Colorado Montrose is a home rule municipality that is the county seat and the most populous municipality of Montrose County, Colorado, United States. The city population was 20,291 at the 2020 census, within a total area of 18.5 square miles. The m ...

, where her husband practiced law. In 1953, Wham and her husband moved to

Denver Denver ( ) is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Consolidated city and county, consolidated city and county, the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Colorado, most populous city of the U.S. state of ...

, Colorado where her husband continued to practice law. She became involved in politics in 1952, volunteering for the campaign of moderate Republican presidential candidate

Dwight Eisenhower Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower (born David Dwight Eisenhower; October 14, 1890 – March 28, 1969) was the 34th president of the United States, serving from 1953 to 1961. During World War II, he was Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionar ...

, while she first got involved in public policy working on

immunization Immunization, or immunisation, is the process by which an individual's immune system becomes fortified against an infectious agent (known as the antigen, immunogen). When this system is exposed to molecules that are foreign to the body, called ' ...

of children.

Political career

From 1972 to 1980, she served on the Colorado Civil Rights Commission. Her husband was elected to one term as a state senator from 1976 to 1978. Wham was elected to her first term in the Colorado House in 1984, serving until 1987. She was appointed to the state senate in November 1987 to finish out an unexpired term of a senator who left to become a lobbyist; she was elected three times in her own right, but was

term-limited A term limit is a legal restriction on the number of terms a person may serve in a particular elected office. When term limits are found in presidential and semi-presidential systems they act as a method of curbing the potential for monopoly, whe ...

in 2000. She was chairperson of the Senate Judiciary Committee from the 1989 to 2000, and involved mostly in health policy, including AIDS, mental health, service animals for people with disabilities, and breast cancer. A moderate Republican on social issues, Wham supported

abortion rights Abortion-rights movements, also self-styled as pro-choice movements, are movements that advocate for legal access to induced abortion services, including elective abortion. They seek to represent and support women who wish to terminate their p ...

and state funding of HIV health care, as well as

needle exchange A needle and syringe programme (NSP), also known as needle exchange program (NEP), is a social service that allows injection drug users (IDUs) to obtain clean and unused hypodermic needles and associated paraphernalia at little or no cost. It i ...

s. She was called “The grande dame” of the

Colorado state legislature The Colorado General Assembly is the state legislature of the State of Colorado. It is a bicameral legislature consisting of the Senate and House of Representatives that was created by the 1876 state constitution. Its statutes are codified in ...

. In 2000, as she prepared to retire due to term limits, she won a legislator of the year award from the Colorado Trial Lawyers Association, and the "Public Service Lifetime Achievement Award" from the Colorado Nonprofit Association.

Family and death

Wham and her husband Robert S. Wham were childhood sweethearts and were married until his death. They had three children, Nancy Mitchell, Jeanne Ryan, and Robert S. Wham II. Wham died on October 20, 2019, aged 94.

References

External links

Articles
in the ''

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''
Listing
at OurCampaigns.com
Images
at

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Candidate information
on TRACER at the

Colorado Secretary of State The secretary of state of Colorado is the secretary of state of the state of Colorado in the United States. The office is one of five elected constitutional offices in the state. The current secretary of state is Democrat Jena Griswold. Str ...

's website 1925 births 2019 deaths People from Centralia, Illinois MacMurray College alumni University of Illinois alumni Women state legislators in Colorado Republican Party members of the Colorado House of Representatives Republican Party Colorado state senators 21st-century American women 20th-century members of the Colorado General Assembly 20th-century American women politicians {{Colorado-politician-stub