Elise Varner Winter
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Elise Varner Winter was an American civic leader and activist who served as the Second Lady of Mississippi from 1972 to 1976 and as the First Lady of Mississippi from 1980 to 1984. She was an advocate
Winter in 2010
Plaque at the Mississippi State Capitol honoring Winter's and her husband's contributions to public education
Winter (far right) and her husband (far left) at a Mississippi League of Women Voters event in 2010
Dick Molpus
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Richard Henderson Molpus Jr. is an American businessman and Democratic Party politician who served as Secretary of State of Mississippi from 1984 until 1996. He unsuccessfully ran for governor in 1995
Elise Varner Winter
…sought to bring changes to the state's educational system. She had a seat at staff meetings on policy and administrative decision making. According to Dick Molpus, who served as her husband's director of federal state programs, she was a "quick strategic thinker" who commanded attention and respect from the…
Molpus in 2025
Heber Ladner Building, home to Mississippi's Secretary of State
Representative Wayne Dowdy defeated Molpus for the Democratic senatorial nomination in the 1988 election.
Molpus ran against Kirk Fordice (pictured) in the 1995 gubernatorial election.