Background
Holt was born Helen Louise Froelich on August 16, 1913 in rural Gridley, Illinois, to Gridley Mayor William E. and Edna M. (née Gingerich) Froelich.
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Holt was born Helen Louise Froelich on August 16, 1913 in rural Gridley, Illinois, to Gridley Mayor William E. and Edna M. (née Gingerich) Froelich.
Associate of Arts, Stephens College, Columbia, Missouri, 1932. Bachelor, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois, 1934. Master of Science, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois, 1938.
Postgraduate, University Missouri, Columbia. Postgraduate, University North Carolina, Chapel Hill. Postgraduate, George Washington University, Washington.
Postgraduate, Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole, Massachusetts.
She served as the Secretary of State of West Virginia from 1957 to 1959 and also served in the West Virginia House of Delegates from 1955 to 1957. Holt was married to Holt, Senior from 1941 until his death in 1955 and was the mother of New Jersey United States. Representative Rush Doctorate. Holt, Junior. She taught biology at the National Park College in Forest Glen, Maryland and Greenbrier College for Women in Lewisburg, West Virginia.
In 1940, Time magazine published a glamour shot of her in a spread about the country"s prettiest school teachers.
The photograph caught the attention of United States. Holt, Senior, and the two were married in 1941. Following Rush"s death from cancer in 1955, Helen was appointed by Governor William C. Marland to fill Rush"s seat in the West Virginia House of Delegates.
A Republican, she served the remaining two years of his term until choosing not to stand for reelection and instead to run as a delegate to the Republican National Convention. Holt continued to serve as a professor at Greenbrier until 1957 when she was appointed by Republican governor Cecil Underwood to serve as Secretary of State of West Virginia in 1957 following the death of Democrat Daniel Pitt O"Brien.
Her appointment made her the first woman to hold a statewide-office in West Virginia.
She served until January 1959 when she was defeated in the November 1958 general election by Democrat Joe Doctorate. Burdett. After her defeat, Holt was appointed in 1959 to be Assistant Commissioner of Public Institutions, a position that oversaw women"s prisons and nursing homes in the state. In her role as special assistant, Holt helped to reform long-term care facilities and provided insured mortgages to build more than 1,000 nursing homes nationwide.
She also served in the Federal Housing Administration"s successor, the Department of Housing and Urban Development until the 1980s.
She also served on the boards of various women"s clubs and organizations.
Delaware-at-large, vice chairman platform committee State of West Virginia Republican National Convention, 1958. Senior citizen volunteer Republican National Committee, 1984. Elder local Presbyterian Church, since 1975, board trustees 1968-1974, 80-86, board deacons, 1988-1994.
Board directors Thompson Markward Hall, National Alliance Senior Citizens, National Safety Council, executive committee Women's division 1975-1987, chairman 1987. Fellow American College Health Care Administrators (Community Service award 1978). Member American Health Care Association, National League American Poets, Playwrights, Editors, Essayists and Novelists association Women (branch president, national chaplain), Washington Forum (president), Potomac Business and Professional Women (president 1983, Woman of the Year 1978), General Federation Women's Clubs (state vice president since 1989, other offices), The Washington Club (member committee), Sigma Delta Epsilon, Sigma Xi, Delta Delta Delta (district president), Zeta Mu Epsilon (national president), Zonta (board directors).
Married Rush Dew Holt, June 19, 1941 (deceased February 1955). Children: Helen Jane Seale, Rush Dew Holt Junior.