Dorothy Felton ( ''née'' Wood; March 1, 1929 – February 19, 2008) was an American politician who was the first

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

woman elected to the

Georgia General Assembly The Georgia General Assembly is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is bicameral, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. Each of the General Assembly's 236 members serve two-year terms and are directly ...

. She was elected to represent District 43 in the

Georgia House of Representatives The Georgia House of Representatives is the lower house of the Georgia General Assembly (the state legislature) of the U.S. state of Georgia. There are currently 180 elected members. Republicans have had a majority in the chamber since 2005. T ...

in 1974, and continued to do so until retiring in 2000.

Biography

Felton was born Dorothy Jean Wood in

Tulsa Tulsa () is the second-largest city in the U.S. state, state of Oklahoma and List of United States cities by population, 47th-most populous city in the United States. The population was 413,066 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. ...

Oklahoma Oklahoma (; Choctaw language, Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the nor ...

on March 1, 1929, to Ima Sue Chronister and George F. Wood. After graduating from the

University of Arkansas The University of Arkansas (U of A, UArk, or UA) is a public land-grant research university in Fayetteville, Arkansas. It is the flagship campus of the University of Arkansas System and the largest university in the state. Founded as Arkansas ...

in 1950 with a

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six ...

, she worked as a journalist for the ''

Tulsa Tribune The ''Tulsa Tribune'' was an afternoon daily newspaper published in Tulsa, Oklahoma from 1919 to 1992. Owned and run by three generations of the Jones family, the ''Tribune'' closed in 1992 after the termination of its joint operating agreement w ...

''. She married Jethro Jerome Felton Jr. in 1953, and they later moved to the

Atlanta metro area Metro Atlanta, designated by the United States Office of Management and Budget as the Atlanta–Sandy Springs–Alpharetta, GA Metropolitan Statistical Area, is the most populous metropolitan statistical area in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. s ...

. She was elected to the

in 1974, going on to serve thirteen terms before retiring after the 2000 legislative session. Her district, District 43, was located in

Sandy Springs Sandy Springs is a city in northern Fulton County, Georgia and an inner ring suburb of Atlanta. The city's population was 108,080 at the 2020 census, making it Georgia's seventh-largest city. It is the site of several corporate headquarters, i ...

, and during her time in the House, she focused mainly on advocating for a referendum allowing residents of Sandy Springs to vote on whether the area should become an incorporated

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...

. She died on February 19, 2008. The interchange between I-285 and

Roswell Road State Route 9 (SR 9), (known locally as Highway 9) is an north–south state highway in the northern part of the U.S. state of Georgia. It travels from Atlanta to Turners Corner, north-northeast of Dahlonega. It is concurrent with ...

in Sandy Springs is named in her honor.

References

1929 births 2008 deaths Women state legislators in Georgia (U.S. state) Republican Party members of the Georgia House of Representatives People from Sandy Springs, Georgia Politicians from Tulsa, Oklahoma Journalists from Oklahoma University of Arkansas alumni 20th-century American legislators 20th-century American women politicians 20th-century American journalists 21st-century American women {{GeorgiaUS-politician-stub