Mary Coon Walters
{{Short description|American judge (1922–2001)}}
{{Infobox military person
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| name = Mary Coon Walters
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| birth_name = Mary Coon
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| birth_date = {{birth date|1922|01|29}}
| birth_place = Baraga, Michigan
| death_date = {{Death date and age|2001|04|04|1922|01|22}}
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| allegiance = United States
| branch = Women Airforce Service Pilots
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| laterwork = first female New Mexico Supreme Court justice
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Mary Coon Walters (January 29, 1922 – April 4, 2001) was the first female New Mexico Supreme Court 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 on January 29, 1922. In 1942, at the age of 20, she joined the Women Airforce Service Pilots.{{Cite news|date=2001-04-12|title=Mary Coon Walters New Mexico J ...|language=en-US|newspaper=Washington Post|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/local/2001/04/12/mary-coon-walters-new-mexico-j/34297e95-bde2-4604-b94e-2d4452e04ad9/|access-date=2017-11-06|issn=0190-8286}}{{cite web|url=http://www.freep.com/story/news/2017/11/10/38-michigan-world-war-ii-fly-girls-women-airforce-service-pilots-wasp/849997001/|title=Meet all 38 of Michigan's original World War II fly girls|publisher=}} She was assigned to Hondo Army Air Field, flying a C-45 Expeditor as a transport pilot.{{Cite book|last=Pike|first=David|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sY0pCgAAQBAJ&dq=Mary+Coon+Walters+new+mexico&pg=PT1151|title=Roadside New Mexico: A Guide to Historic Markers, Revised and Expanded Edition|date=2015-08-01|publisher=UNM Press|isbn=978-0-8263-5570-6|language=en}} Walters fought in the Korean War before leaving the military in 1955.{{Cite news|last=|first=|date=April 9, 2001|title=Walters' Zest for Life, Justice Inspired Many|work=Albuquerque Journal|url=|access-date=}}
Later life
As specified in the G.I. Bill, Walters gained entry into the University of New Mexico School of Law, 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.{{Cite web|url=http://obits.abqjournal.com/obits/show/97351|title=Albuquerque Journal Obituaries|website=obits.abqjournal.com|language=en|access-date=2017-11-07}} In 1972, Bruce King appointed Walters as the a Probate Judge in Albuquerque, New Mexico, 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 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.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sY0pCgAAQBAJ&q=Mary+Coon+Walters+new+mexico&pg=PT1151|title=Roadside New Mexico: A Guide to Historic Markers, Revised and Expanded Edition|last=Pike|first=David|date=2015-08-01|publisher=UNM Press|isbn=9780826355706|language=en}}{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wW5wumFHKSEC&q=Mary+Coon+Walters+new+mexico&pg=SL11-PA360|title=Women in American Politics: History and Milestones|last=Weatherford|first=Doris|date=2012-01-20|publisher=SAGE|isbn=9781608710072|language=en}}{{Cite news|url=https://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=45331|title=The Honorable Mary Coon Walters / Chief Justice Pamela B. Minzner Historical Marker|work=The Historical Marker database|access-date=2017-11-06}}{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4M9FAQAAIAAJ&q=%22Appointed+by+Governor+Toney+Anaya+to+term+beginning+Dec+13+,+1984.+Elected+to+term%22|title=The American Bench: Judges of the Nation|date=1987|publisher=Reginald Bishop Forster & Associates|isbn=978-0-931398-15-5|language=en}} 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 inside the Hall of Chief Justices.{{cite journal |last1=Chavez |first1=Edward L. |title=Pamela B. Minzner: From Professional Promise to New Mexico's Iconic Leader in Professionalism |journal=New Mexico Law Review |date=2009 |volume=39 |issue=1 |page=14 |url=https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/nmlr/vol39/iss1/3 |access-date=15 February 2023}}
See also
References
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Category:Justices of the New Mexico Supreme Court
Category:20th-century American judges
Category:Women Airforce Service Pilots personnel
Category:People from Baraga County, Michigan
Category:University of New Mexico School of Law alumni