Mary Coon Walters
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Mary Coon Walters (January 29, 1922 – April 4, 2001) was the first female
New Mexico Supreme Court The New Mexico Supreme Court is the highest court in the U.S. state of New Mexico. It is established and its powers defined by Article VI of the New Mexico Constitution. It is primarily an appellate court which reviews civil and criminal decisi ...
justice, the first woman in New Mexico to be a district judge, and the first president of the New Mexico Women's Political Caucus.


Early life and military career

Mary Coon Walters was born Mary Coon in
Baraga, Michigan Baraga ( ) is a village in Baraga County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 1,883 at the 2020 census. The village is named after Bishop Frederic Baraga. The village is located in Baraga Township on the Keweenaw Bay on Lake Supe ...
on January 29, 1922. In 1942, at the age of 20, she joined the
Women Airforce Service Pilots The Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP) (also Women's Army Service Pilots or Women's Auxiliary Service Pilots) was a civilian women pilots' organization, whose members were United States federal civil service employees. Members of WASP became t ...
. She was assigned to
Hondo Army Air Field South Texas Regional Airport at Hondo is a public use airport located two nautical miles (4  km) northwest of the central business district of Hondo, a city in Medina County, Texas, United States. It is owned by the City of Hondo and wa ...
, flying a
C-45 Expeditor The Beechcraft Model 18 (or "Twin Beech", as it is also known) is a 6- to 11-seat, twin-engined, low-wing, tailwheel light aircraft manufactured by the Beech Aircraft Corporation of Wichita, Kansas. Continuously produced from 1937 to November ...
as a transport pilot. Walters fought in the
Korean War , date = {{Ubl, 25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953 (''de facto'')({{Age in years, months, weeks and days, month1=6, day1=25, year1=1950, month2=7, day2=27, year2=1953), 25 June 1950 – present (''de jure'')({{Age in years, months, weeks a ...
before leaving the military in 1955.


Later life

As specified in the
G.I. Bill The Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944, commonly known as the G.I. Bill, was a law that provided a range of benefits for some of the returning World War II veterans (commonly referred to as G.I.s). The original G.I. Bill expired in 1956, bu ...
, Walters gained entry into the
University of New Mexico School of Law The University of New Mexico School of Law (UNM Law or New Mexico Law) is the law school of the University of New Mexico, a public research university in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Founded in 1947, it is the first and only law school in the state. ...
, and was admitted to the bar the same year that she graduated in 1962. Walters served as a delegate to the 1969 New Mexico Constitutional Convention. In 1972,
Bruce King Bruce King (April 6, 1924 – November 13, 2009) was an American businessman and politician who for three non-consecutive four-year terms was the governor of New Mexico. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the longest-serving governor in Ne ...
appointed Walters as the a
Probate Judge A probate court (sometimes called a surrogate court) is a court that has competence in a jurisdiction to deal with matters of probate and the administration of estates. In some jurisdictions, such courts may be referred to as Orphans' Courts o ...
in
Albuquerque, New Mexico Albuquerque ( ; ), ; kee, Arawageeki; tow, Vakêêke; zun, Alo:ke:k'ya; apj, Gołgéeki'yé. abbreviated ABQ, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of New Mexico. Its nicknames, The Duke City and Burque, both reference its founding in ...
, making Walters the first woman in New Mexico to be a district judge. Walters became the first woman on the New Mexico Supreme Court when
Toney Anaya Toney Anaya (born April 29, 1941) is an American politician and attorney who served as the 26th governor of New Mexico from 1983 to 1987. Early life and career Anaya was born on in Moriarty, New Mexico. He earned a Bacheor of Arts degree from ...
appointed her to a term that began on December 13, 1984, and she was re-elected to a term that began on January 1, 1984. She was also the first president of the New Mexico Women's Political Caucus. She was in the first group of women inducted into the New Mexico Women's Hall of Fame in 1986.


Death and legacy

Walters died on April 4, 2001. A historical marker recognizing her contributions was erected at the intersection of Tucker Avenue NE and Yale Boulevard NE, in Albuquerque, New Mexico. In 2007, the New Mexico Supreme Court made her an honorary Chief Justice of the New Mexico Supreme Court and ordered her portrait be displayed in the
New Mexico Supreme Court Building The New Mexico Supreme Court Building is a courthouse located in the city of Santa Fe, New Mexico, Santa Fe, county of Santa Fe County, New Mexico, Santa Fe, in the U.S. state of New Mexico. Both the New Mexico Supreme Court and New Mexico Court of ...
inside the Hall of Chief Justices.


See also

*
List of first women lawyers and judges in New Mexico This is a list of the first women lawyer(s) and judge(s) in New Mexico. It includes the year in which the women were admitted to practice law (in parentheses). Also included are women who achieved other distinctions such becoming the first in their ...


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Walters, Mary Coon 1922 births 2001 deaths Justices of the New Mexico Supreme Court 20th-century American judges Women Airforce Service Pilots personnel People from Baraga County, Michigan University of New Mexico School of Law alumni 20th-century American women judges Military personnel from Michigan