The Monday After: Hollister becomes Ohio's first female governor

Twenty-five years ago, Nancy P. Hollister was serving her initial full day as Ohio's first and only female governor.

Sworn in on Dec. 31, 1998, she would lead the state for the shortest tenure of any of the state's chief executives.

Gov. Hollister, a former mayor of Marietta, was in office for only 11 days. She finished the term of Gov. George V. Voinovich, the Republican governor who had been elected to the U.S. Senate and who had resigned early to be sworn into that office.

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In its New Year's Day issue in 1999, The Repository published an article by Associated Press writer David Jacobs that explained the political situation and celebrated the ascent of a woman who had gone "from an Election Day loser to a history maker" in about two months.

"Hollister became Ohio's first female governor Thursday and 66th since 1803 when Ohio became a state," reported the AP article on Friday Jan. 1, 1999. "Hollister, who had been lieutenant governor since 1995, on Nov. 3 lost the congressional race in southern Ohio's 6th District. She will lead the state until Jan. 11, when Republican Bob Taft is sworn in."

It would be an historically significant period.

"My primary goals are to complete my term as 66th governor with dignity, integrity and to provide a smooth and orderly transition between the Voinovich and Taft administrations," Hollister, then 49.

Hollister had a busy few days in the office.

"That includes signing a farmland preservation bill," the AP article said, "making appointments to courts and state boards, and presiding over the opening session of the 123rd Legislature next week."

Got early start in politics

The website for Bowling Green State University later would tell "Nancy P. Hollister's Story" as part of the university's "Trailblazing Women in Ohio Politics" series.

"Nancy Putnam Hollister was born on May 22, 1949," the BGSU bio said. "A descendant of Rufus Putnum, who founded Marietta in 1788, Hollister thrice made history as the first woman mayor of Marietta, first woman lieutenant governor, and first woman governor of Ohio."

Hollister, who had studied communication at Kent State University from 1967 to 1970 was familiar with politics and being a pioneer woman. Her father was a Marietta councilman – she frequently attended his political events – and she was elected a dorm president at Kent State.

"Putnam organized a protest against 'women's hours,' which required women to return to their dormitories earlier at night than men," the BGSU website explained. "Hollister smiles recalling her protest. No one else showed up. Kent State soon rescinded the policy."

After marrying her husband, Jeff Hollister, with whom she raised five children, Hollister served on Marietta City Council before holding the mayor's office in the city for two terms. Although a majority of voters approved of Hollister, her reception as mayor was not always a welcoming one.

"Letters to the editor complained that there would be diapers in the mayor's office," the Bowling Green bio recalled. "Women, in particular, questioned Hollister's decision to run as a mother of young children. Hollister's strategy was to 'stay positive and stay focused.'"

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Served Voinovich administration

It was in 1991 that Gov. Voinovich appointed Hollister as director of the Governor's Office of Appalachia, according to the website for Ohio History Central.

"Having served as mayor of an Appalachian community, Hollister was well suited for this position," Ohio History Central recalled. "She advised the governor on how to improve economic life for people living in twenty-nine Ohio counties deemed to be part of Appalachia."

The website OhioStatehouse.org documented that Hollister won election as Ohio's first woman lieutenant governor in 1994. She took office in January 1995.

"In this capacity, Hollister assisted Gov. Voinovich by overseeing several state offices and commissions, including the State and Local Government Commission, the Governor's Workforce Development Board, the Ohio Bureau of Employment Services, the Ohio Farmland Preservation Task Force, the Governor's Office of Appalachia, the Ohio School-to-Work Initiative, the Office of Housing and Community Partnership, the Ohio Department of Agriculture, and the Ohio Coal Development Office."

With a hand in that many state offices and initiatives, it was clear that Hollister was well prepared to succeed Voinovich as governor, however short her tenure might be.

Sworn in as governor

According to Jacob's AP article on New Year's Day, Gov. Voinovich had given Hollister a state coin "commemorating his administration." The soon-to-be-sworn-in governor put it in her pocket as "a good-luck piece."

Jacob wrote that Hollister "called the inaugural events a bit overwhelming."

"I was very determined to enjoy today because it is a piece of history, no matter how brief," Hollister told reporters.

Jacob reported that one state senator found the New Year's Eve swearing-in ceremony – on a day that the state was enduring a winter storm – to be an occasion for gender-based but good-natured humor.

"State Sen. Robert Cupp, the No. 2 leader in the Senate, said he once heard it would be 'a cold day' before Ohio had a female governor," wrote Jacob. "'What I am curious about is, how did they know?' Cupp, R-Lima, quipped on a day when it was 21 degrees outside."

Reach Gary at gary.brown.rep@gmail.com. On Twitter: @gbrownREP.

This article originally appeared on The Alliance Review: The Monday After: Remembering when Nancy Hollister became Ohio's 1st female governor