Willie Stevenson Glanton, Iowa's first black female legislator, dies at age 95

Willie Stevenson Glanton, a prominent Iowa leader and the state's first black female legislator, has died. She was 95.

Glanton died Thursday morning in hospice at Trinity Center at Luther Park. She had moved out of her home in January 2015 to receive more continuous care.

"She paved the way for so many individuals by the life that she led, by the battles that she fought, by the various accomplishments that she enjoyed in her life," said Glanton's friend of 28 years and her legal guardian, Renee Hardman of West Des Moines. "She opened the door for so many."

Glanton dedicated her life to law, human services and civil rights. She was the first woman to become an assistant Polk County attorney. She was Iowa's first black female legislator, serving in the state House of Representatives from 1965 to 1967.

Glanton was the first woman and first black person to be elected president of the Iowa Chapter of the Federal Bar Association, and she represented that association in a tour of China, Finland and the Soviet Union in 1986.

Glanton, who was originally from Hot Springs, Ark., was admitted to the Iowa State Bar Association in 1953 after graduating from Tennessee State University and Robert Terrell Law School in Washington, D.C. 

She became the first black attorney at the U.S. Small Business Administration in 1966 and the first black member of the Des Moines City Council on an interim basis in 1985. She held leadership positions on numerous other boards, commissions and councils. She was also involved in church and community organizations. 

Glanton received many awards over her lifetime and was inducted into the Iowa Women's Hall of Fame in 1986.

Her husband, Luther T. Glanton, who died in 1991, became Iowa's first black judge in 1959.

She is survived by a son, Luther Glanton III of Des Moines; a granddaughter, Angela Glanton of Georgia; niece Syeta Glanton of Georgia; and nephew Bobby Glanton Smith of California.

A wake will be held from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. July 14, with tributes starting at 5:30. 

The memorial service will start at 11 a.m. July 15 at Westminster Presbyterian Church, 4114 Allison Ave., followed by burial at McLarens Resthaven Cemetery in West Des Moines.