Nancy Hollister

Putnam was born in Terre Haute, Indiana, the daughter of Benjamin Hay Putnam Jr. (1925-2007) and Mary Elizabeth White (1926-1990).

Her parents had married in 1945 in West Virginia and had moved briefly back to Terre Haute (her mother's hometown) before moving to Marietta, Ohio, where her father's family resided.

Her 6th great-grandfather was Revolutionary War General Israel Putnam.

Her 8th great-grandmother was Bathsheba Folger Pope, an accuser of witches during the Salem Witch Trials.

She has five siblings: Emily, Esther, Sarah and Benjamin Hay Putnam, III.

Hollister attended Kent State University majoring in communications.

She was active in protests on campus, including protesting curfews placed on women students, a policy which would later be abolished.

Hollister left to marry her husband Jeff, just two months before the Kent State shootings.

Nancy Elizabeth Hollister (née Putnam; born May 22, 1949) is an American politician from the U.S. state of Ohio.

She began her political career in the 1980s, becoming a member of the city council in Marietta and eventually winning the position of mayor.

Nancy Hollister first entered public office when she was elected to the Marietta City Council in 1980.

Hollister would serve on city council until being elected Mayor of Marietta in 1984.

As Mayor, Hollister worked to attract new businesses to the area, promote tourism, and secured funding for a new bridge across the Ohio River.

Since Hollister was a mayor in Southeastern Ohio, Governor George Voinovich appointed Nancy Hollister as director of the Governor's Office of Appalachia.

In this position, Hollister was responsible for coordinating federal and state efforts to improve life for the twenty-nine counties in Appalachia.

Her selection was thought to be beneficial for Voinovich, who had lost many counties downstate in 1990, and helpful for attracting women to the ticket.

Her election in November made her the and the first woman to be elected Lieutenant Governor.

Hollister would oversee several State and Local Government Commissions.

These included the Governor's Office of Appalachia, the Governor's Workforce Development Board, the Ohio Department of Agriculture, the Ohio Bureau of Employment Services, the Ohio School-to-Work Initiative, the Office of Housing and Community Partnership, the Ohio Coal Development Office, and the Ohio Farmland Preservation Task Force.

The race was viewed as highly competitive, in part due to the fact that the district had ousted an incumbent every year since 1990.

A big issue in the race was education, as the district contained some of the least affluent school districts in the state.

Strickland supported more government funding in schools and hiring more teachers, whereas Hollister supported reducing the size of the Department of Education to give funds through block grants.

Hollister received the endorsements of George Voinovich and John Boehner, and campaigned alongside House Speaker Newt Gingrich and Bob Dole.

In 1994, George Voinovich picked her as his candidate for Lieutenant Governor, and she served from 1995 to 1998.

In 1994, Hollister was selected by Hollister was elected Voinovich as his running mate to replace incumbent lieutenant governor Mike DeWine, who was running for the U.S. Senate.

In 1996, Hollister began raising funds for a bid for Ohio Secretary of State in 1998.

A bid to succeed Voinovich as governor was seen as complicated by Voinovich's implicit endorsement of Bob Taft for governor.

In 1997, she began reconsidering and considered a bid for the 6th district against incumbent Democrat Ted Strickland.

On July 1, 1997, Hollister announced her intent to run for congress.

In the primary, Hollister defeated former congressman Frank Cremeans by 4 points.

She faced difficulty due to her moderate stances, but won out due to a divided conservative vote.

Hollister was the first and, to date, only female governor of Ohio, serving briefly from December 1998 to January 1999.

Hollister attended Kent State University, and upon leaving college she became a housewife.

After a failed congressional bid in 1998, she succeeded Voinovich as Governor after he resigned to become a U.S. Senator.

She served as Governor for 11 days, taking few political actions during her brief tenure.

Almost immediately after leaving the governorship, Hollister was appointed to a seat in the Ohio House of Representatives.

In 1998, she was inducted into the Ohio Women's Hall of Fame.

On November 3, 1998, Hollister was defeated by Strickland 57% to 43%.

She won election to a full term in 2000 and 2002.

In 2004, Hollister was defeated for re-election, attributed in part to her opposition to a constitutional amendment outlawing gay marriage.