Viola "Vi" June (July 20, 1932 - August 15, 2020) was a city councilor, mayor, state representative, and newspaper columnist in Colorado. She won a seat on the Westminster, Colorado city council in 1965. [1] In 1975, she was elected mayor and became the first woman to hold the office, and served until 1981. [1] She later ran for Colorado House, and served eight years from 1991 to 1998. [2] She was a Democrat and served as the minority whip in 1994. [1]
Viola Helen Beste was born in Sauk Centre, Minnesota. [3] [4] She studied at St. Cloud State University for one year before moving to Denver for a job at Gates Rubber. [2] She began a career in journalism in 1963, and continued writing a column for the local papers until 2016. [1] She was married for 60 years and had six children. [3] She died on August 15, 2020 (aged 88). [1]