Irene Thresher

Irene Kattwinkell was born in Cologne, Germany and studied at Vassar College.[1][2] She was awarded an honorary doctorate from Emerson College.[1] After college, she lived in Cambridge, Massachusetts and then Newton, Massachusetts. After leaving the legislature, she moved to Cocoa Beach, Florida and then Winter Park, Florida.[1] She was married to B. Alden Thresher, with whom she had a son, Colby, and two daughters, Sonia and Rosemary.[1] Before entering the General Court, she was a housewife.[2]

From 1941 to 1950, Thresher was a member of the Newton School Committee.[2]

Thresher served in the Massachusetts House of Representatives as a Republican from 1951 to 1961.[1] In addition to serving on the education and public welfare committees, she was also the first woman to serve on the ways and means committee.[1] After her initial election in 1950, she was elected president of the freshman class, the first woman to hold that position.[1] Her priorities as a legislator included education and the elderly.[1]