Mary R. Grizzle (née Pearson; August 19, 1921 – November 9, 2006), was a legislator and advocate of the

Equal Rights Amendment The Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) is a proposed amendment to the United States Constitution designed to guarantee equal legal rights for all American citizens regardless of sex. Proponents assert it would end legal distinctions between men and ...

, who served in both houses of the Florida state legislature. She was the first female Republican to serve in the Florida legislature. In 1963, she was elected to the Florida House of Representatives. From 1974 to 1978 she served as House Republican Leader Pro-Tempore, making her the first woman in Florida elected to a leadership position. In 1978, she was elected to the Florida Senate. She introduced and passed the Married Women Property Rights Act, which became law in 1970, giving married women in Florida, for the first time, the right to own property solely in their names and to transfer that property without their husbands' signatures. She also sponsored legislation admitting women to jury duty, providing equal pay for equal work, providing maternity leave for teachers, and requiring state licensing for child care centers. In 1972, she co-sponsored a bill that set strict standards on sewage dumped into

Tampa Bay Tampa Bay is a large natural harbor and shallow estuary connected to the Gulf of Mexico on the west-central coast of Florida, comprising Hillsborough Bay, McKay Bay, Old Tampa Bay, Middle Tampa Bay, and Lower Tampa Bay. The largest freshwater in ...

Legacy

In 1990, the Florida Senate passed a resolution naming her "Dean of the Legislature" because she had the longest continuous term of service there. She stayed in the Senate until 1992. In 2003, she was inducted into the

Florida Women's Hall of Fame The Florida Women's Hall of Fame is an honor roll of women who have contributed to life for citizens of the US state of Florida. An awards ceremony for the hall of fame was first held in 1982 and recipient names are displayed in the Florida State ...

. The Mary Grizzle Building, a business center, is located in Largo, Florida.

Early life

She grew up near

Ironton, Ohio Ironton is a city in and the county seat of Lawrence County, Ohio, United States. Located in southernmost Ohio along the Ohio River northwest of Huntington, West Virginia, the city includes the Downtown Ironton Historic District. The populatio ...

, where she was born. Grizzle went to business college in

Portsmouth, Ohio Portsmouth is a city in and the county seat of Scioto County, Ohio, United States. Located in southern Ohio south of Chillicothe, it lies on the north bank of the Ohio River, across from Kentucky, just east of the mouth of the Scioto River. ...

. She worked for an insurance business. After

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

started, she moved to

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, ...

and worked for the War Production Board. She met Ben Grizzle and they got married. They moved to Florida in 1949. Grizzle was involved with the PTA and with the Republican Party. She served as town commissioner for

Belleair, Florida Belleair is a town in Pinellas County, Florida, United States. As of the 2010 census, it had a population of 3,869. History Belleair traces its origins to 1896 as a planned resort town with the construction of the Belleview Hotel by railroad ...

."She fought for environment, women's rights" by CRAIG BASSE AND WILL VAN SANT, published November 10, 2006
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References

External links

, - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Grizzle, Mary R. 1921 births 2006 deaths People from Ironton, Ohio People from Belleair, Florida Women state legislators in Florida Republican Party members of the Florida House of Representatives Republican Party Florida state senators 20th-century American politicians 20th-century American women politicians 21st-century American women