Nancy A. Holman, 66; Trailblazing Judge

Nancy Ann Holman, 66, the first woman Superior Court judge in Washington state, died Sunday at her Seattle home of complications from a stroke she suffered in 1996.

Born in Adams, Mass., Holman graduated from Wheaton College and earned her law degree at the Boston College law school. She went to work as a trial and appellate lawyer in Boston in 1959 before moving to Seattle, where she joined a law firm specializing in construction, product liability, personal injury and divorce cases.

In 1970 she was named by then-Gov. Dan Evans to the King County Superior Court bench in Seattle. Since then, 75 women have been Superior Court, Appeals Court and state Supreme Court judges in Washington.

She taught at the University of Puget Sound Law School, now the Seattle University Law School, as well as at the University of Nevada and Boston College Law School. She retired from the bench in 1997.