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 2010 ...

, from 1974 to 1976 and 1983 to 1986.

Early life and education

House was born in

Bay City, Michigan Bay City is a city and county seat of Bay County in the U.S. state of Michigan, located near the base of the Saginaw Bay on Lake Huron. As of the 2010 census, the city's population was 34,932, and it is the principal city of the Bay City Metropol ...

, on March 17, 1952, to parents James Daniel and Kathleen House. House graduated from

All Saints Central High School All Saints Central High School is a private Roman Catholic high school located in Bay City, Michigan, United States. It is located in the Diocese of Saginaw. It is part of a grouping of schools: All Saints Central Elementary, All Saints Central Mi ...

in 1969. House earned a B.A. in political science from

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

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 Wahsington 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 businessman and politician who served as the 46th Governor of Michigan from 1991 to 2003. A member of the Republican Party, he later worked for Business Roundtable, where '' The Hill'' ...

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

Newsmax Newsmax (Newsmax Media, Inc. or Newsmax.com, previously styled NewsMax) is an American right-wing to far-right cable news and digital media company founded by Christopher Ruddy on September 16, 1998. Newsmax Media divisions include its cable ...

'' political columnist and

White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams in 1800. ...

correspondent, John Gizzi. House was

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

. 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. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

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

References

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 20th-century American politicians 21st-century American women {{Michigan-politician-stub