[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 24 (Monday, February 6, 2023)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E94]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       APPRECIATING COLLEEN HOUSE

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. JOE WILSON

                           of south carolina

                    in the house of representatives

                        Monday, February 6, 2023

  Mr. WILSON of South Carolina. Mr. Speaker, on December 29, 2022, the 
Detroit News published the following inspiring obituary for Colleen 
House, an appreciated political trailblazer for the Michigan Republican 
Party.

       Colleen Mary House, whose unexpected foray into Michigan 
     politics nearly 50 years ago blazed a trail for women 
     lawmakers, died Christmas Eve after a two-year battle with 
     dementia, her family announced Wednesday. She was 70.
       House died at her Foggy Bottom home in Washington, D.C., 
     with her husband, John Gizzi, the senior White House 
     correspondent for Newsmax, at her side.
       ``Colleen left my life as she entered it--with a warm 
     smile, dancing eyes, and unconditional love,'' Gizzi wrote in 
     a tribute sent to The Detroit News.
       At age 22, she became the youngest woman to serve in 
     Michigan Legislature. But she almost followed a different 
     path.
       After graduating from Michigan State University with a 
     degree in political science in 1973, House wanted to follow 
     in her older sister's footsteps as a flight attendant with 
     Pan Am, according to Gizzi. But the airline cut back on 
     international flights amid the energy crisis, prompting House 
     to volunteer on a Republican campaign for Congress in a 
     special election in her hometown of Bay City.
       Democratic State Rep. Bob Traxler won the election to fill 
     the seat vacated by the Republican James Harvey, who had been 
     appointed a federal judge.
       House then won Traxler's seat with help from future 
     Michigan Gov. John Engler, who at the time was a state 
     representative, The News reported.
       It was considered an upset victory in then-Democratic Bay 
     County.
       House was also the first Republican to hold the seat in 
     more than 20 years, according to her obituary.
       The rising political star was scheduled to be featured on a 
     national Republican telethon hosted by then-Republican 
     National Chairman George H.W. Bush. However, the event was 
     canceled at the last minute after President Nixon resigned 
     from office in the aftermath of the Watergate scandal.
       In 1974, House was re-elected, and the following April she 
     wed Engler.
       They were the only husband-wife team in the Legislature, 
     according to The News' archives. The couple divorced in 1988.
       After House lost re-election in 1976, she moved to Ingham 
     County. From 1977-78 she served as director of public affairs 
     for the Michigan Chamber of Commerce.
       Her connection to Bush led to a role helping to run his 
     presidential campaign in the Michigan primary where Bush 
     defeated frontrunner Ronald Reagan. His Michigan victory 
     helped keep him in the political conversation, eventually 
     leading to Reagan tapping him as his vice president.
       House would eventually go on to work in the 41st U.S. 
     president's administrations as director of intergovernmental 
     affairs at the U.S. Department of Commerce.
       Before moving to Washington, House had also returned to the 
     state legislature, representing Isabella and Mecosta Counties 
     in 1982 and was reelected in 1984, according to the Library 
     of Michigan.
       In 1986, she was the first woman to run for governor of 
     Michigan but lost the primary.
       At the time, The News reported, Public Sector Consultants, 
     a Lansing thinktank, called her ``one of the most dynamic 
     speakers among the Republican candidates, and she projects a 
     very firm grasp of the state issues (but) has been unable to 
     raise the money to publicize her positions.''
       She ran with GOP nominee Bill Lucas as a candidate for 
     lieutenant governor, but their ticket was defeated by 
     incumbent Gov. Jim Blanchard.
       After her stint in the Bush administration, House spent 
     nearly a quarter-century working with the International 
     Republican Institute, which she joined in 1993.
       House long was active at St. Matthews Cathedral in 
     Washington, D.C., where she was a lector at Masses, trained 
     other parishioners to read portions of the Mass and served as 
     a pontifical lector, relatives said.
       Besides her husband, other survivors include a sister, Anne 
     House Quinn; three nieces, Bridget House, Kathleen Quinn and 
     Elizabeth Quinn; three nephews, George H. McElory, Dr. Jude 
     McElory and James Quinn; and brothers-in-law T. Anthony 
     Quinn, Charles J. Rhodes and Michael Kusisto.
       A funeral is scheduled to be held Feb. 18 at St. Matthews 
     Cathedral.
       Memorials can be made to St. Matthew's Cathedral, the 
     Fraternal Order of St. Peter or the American Hospice 
     Association.

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