Elizabeth Eyre Pellet (née Elizabeth Eyre; January 15, 1887 – April 7, 1976) was an American actress,

suffragist Suffrage, political franchise, or simply franchise is the right to vote in public, political elections and referendums (although the term is sometimes used for any right to vote). In some languages, and occasionally in English, the right to vo ...

, and state legislator who served in 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 ...

. A Democrat, she represented southern Colorado counties of Dolores, Montezuma, and San Miguel in the

Colorado House of Representatives The Colorado House of Representatives is the lower house of the Colorado General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Colorado. The House is composed of 65 members from an equal number of constituent districts, with each distri ...

, from 1948 to 1964, and as minority leader, from 1955 to 1956. She was the first woman to serve as Colorado's House minority leader.

Biography

Elizabeth Eyre was born in South Norwalk (now part of Norwalk), Connecticut on January 15, 1887. She acted on Broadway and in a silent film, '' The Plunderer'' (1915). In New York she also marched as a suffragist. She was married in 1919 to lawyer Robert Lockwood Pellet (1872–1949). She moved to Colorado with her husband and they operated mines in

Rico, Colorado Rico is a town in Dolores County, Colorado, United States. It was settled in 1879 as a silver mining center in the Pioneer Mining District; today it functions as a historic and tourism site. The population was 288 at the 2020 census. Its curr ...

, where she was elected to the school board. She wrote an autobiography titled, ''That Pellet Woman! ''(1965, published by

Stein and Day Stein and Day, Inc. was an American publishing company founded by Sol Stein and his wife Patricia Day in 1962. Stein was both the publisher and the editor-in-chief. The firm was based in New York City, and was in business for 27 years, until cl ...

). She worked to gain federal support to save and restore the

Rio Grande Southern Railroad The Rio Grande Southern Railroad (reporting mark RGS, also referred to as "The Southern") was a 3 ft gauge railways, 3 ft (914 mm) Narrow gauge railways, narrow-gauge railroad which ran in the southwestern region of the United States, US s ...

. She was inducted into the

Colorado Women's Hall of Fame The Colorado Women's Hall of Fame is a non-profit, volunteer organization that recognizes women who have contributed to the history of the U.S. state of Colorado Colorado is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States. It is one of the ...

in 2016.

References

External links

Findagrave entry
1887 births 1976 deaths People from Dolores County, Colorado People from Norwalk, Connecticut Women state legislators in Colorado Suffragists from Colorado 20th-century American actresses American silent film actresses 20th-century American women politicians American stage actresses American actor-politicians Democratic Party members of the Colorado House of Representatives School board members in Colorado 20th-century members of the Colorado General Assembly {{Colorado-politician-stub