La.'S First Female Legislator Dies At 87
Submitted by N.O.V.A. July 2005
Times Picayune 	06-2-1997


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Doris Lindsey Holland Rhodes, the first woman to serve in the Louisiana
Legislature, has died. She was 87.

Rhodes died Saturday at Ollie Steele Burden Manor nursing home in Baton Rouge. She
had a stroke three weeks ago, her son said.

When Rhodes' first husband, state Sen. Thomas Holland, died in 1936, she took his
place in the Senate for one term, representing a district that covered St. Helena,
Tangipahoa and Livingston parishes.

Rhodes' son, Phillip Holland, said his mother was a "forerunner" for women who
have political aspirations in the state, and that she managed to break new ground
while raising a family on her own.

"She put my sister and me through college and then remarried," Holland said. "That
was pretty good for a woman in those days."

Rhodes later ran for and won a seat in the state House of Representatives.

Phillip Holland said his mother worked to find jobs for Depression-era
constituents.

Aside from her duties as a legislator, she was for many years editor and publisher
of the St. Helena Echo, a weekly paper owned by the Holland family until it was
sold several years ago. She was also an insurance agent.

In 1968, she married a Zachary banker, J.H. Rhodes, who died 10 years later. She
lived in Zachary and Greensburg, her birthplace, until she recently became sick,
her son said.

Former Gov. Edwin Edwards gave Rhodes a public service award in 1992 at the
Governor's Conference on Women. She was also honored by Nicholls State
University's Louisiana Center for Women and Government.

Survivors include her son, three sisters, five grandchildren and three great-
grandchildren.

A funeral will be held today at First Baptist Church in Greensburg. Burial will be
in Greensburg Cemetery.