Carole Keeton Strayhorn, Austin’s first woman mayor, dies at 85

Carole Keeton, Austin’s first woman mayor, died Wednesday at the age of 85. She was born in Austin to Page and Madge Keeton and devoted herself to the city throughout her life. Her father was a much-lauded dean at the University of Texas Law School. Carole graduated from UT and married attorney Barr McClellan in 1961. Together they had four sons and she taught at McCallum High School. She served the city and the state over many years, starting on the Austin ISD Board of Trustees in 1972, where she worked to improve achievement of minorities. From the school board, she was elected Austin’s mayor in 1977 – a post no woman has won since. She served as mayor until 1983, when she was appointed the first woman to serve on the State Board of Insurance. She followed that appointment by serving as railroad commissioner from 1994 to 1999 and then comptroller of public accounts from 1999 to 2007 – also the first woman elected to the position. In 2006, as Carole Keeton Strayhorn, she ran an unsuccessful independent campaign against Gov. Rick Perry. Reporters who knew her remember her as a talkative source who often had a humorous anecdote to tell. Our city is smaller without her.