Representative Lera Millard Thomas

Lera Millard Thomas (August 3, 1900 – July 23, 1993) was an American politician who served as a U.S. Representative from Texas in the United States Congress from 1965 to 1967, representing the Eighth District of Texas from 1966 to 1967 after the death of her husband, Congressman Albert Thomas. A member of the Democratic Party, she was the first woman to represent Texas in the U.S. House of Representatives and contributed to the legislative process during one term in office. She later became known as the founder of Millard’s Crossing Historic Village in Nacogdoches, Texas.

Thomas was born Lera Millard on August 3, 1900, in Nacogdoches, Texas, the daughter of Jesse Waldington Millard and Annie Donnell (née Watkins) Millard. She grew up in East Texas at a time when the region was still largely rural and steeped in the traditions of early Texas settlement, influences that later shaped her interest in historic preservation. Her family background in Nacogdoches, one of the oldest towns in Texas, provided her with a strong sense of local history and community identity that would remain central throughout her life.

For her education, Thomas attended Brenau College in Gainesville, Georgia, and later studied at the University of Alabama. Her collegiate experience exposed her to a broader world beyond East Texas and helped cultivate the skills and interests that would support her later public and civic work. Although she did not initially pursue a public career in her own name, her education prepared her to play an active supporting role in her husband’s political life and to assume public responsibilities when called upon.

In 1922, Lera Millard married Albert Thomas. The couple had three children: James Nelson, Anne, and Lera. When Albert Thomas was elected to Congress in 1936, the family moved to Washington, D.C., where Lera Thomas became deeply involved in the social and civic life that surrounded congressional service. She was a member of the Houston League of Women Voters, reflecting her engagement with issues of democratic participation and public policy. During these years, she gained firsthand familiarity with the workings of Congress and national politics, experience that would later prove essential when she herself entered elective office.

Lera Millard Thomas’s own congressional service began under somber circumstances. On February 15, 1966, her husband died while still in office, and a special election was called for March 26, 1966, to fill the vacancy in Texas’s Eighth Congressional District. Already recognized in the district through her long association with her husband’s work, she became a candidate to succeed him. In that special election, she was elected as a Democrat and became the first woman elected to Congress from the State of Texas. She received over 74 percent of the vote against Republican Louis Leman, who notably urged voters to “vote for the Widow Thomas,” underscoring the tradition of widows succeeding their late husbands in Congress. Her term in the House fell during a significant period in American history, amid the Great Society legislative agenda and the escalation of U.S. involvement in Vietnam, and she participated in the democratic process and represented the interests of her constituents during this time.

During her service in the House of Representatives, Thomas served on the Merchant Marine and Fisheries Committee. In that role, she supported funding to expand the Houston Ship Channel, continuing and reinforcing the economic development priorities that had been central to her husband’s tenure. She also carried forward his efforts to strengthen the region’s role in the nation’s space program, becoming vital in the creation and development of a NASA presence within her district, adjacent to other existing laboratories. Because Albert Thomas had died after filing for office in 1966, his name remained on the Democratic primary ballot for the full term beginning in 1967, and Lera Thomas determined that she would not seek that full term. State Representative Bob Eckhardt won the Democratic primary for the next Congress. After serving the remainder of her husband’s term, she left Congress on January 3, 1967, concluding her brief but historically significant tenure as Texas’s first female member of the U.S. House of Representatives.

Following her departure from Congress, Thomas remained active in public life. She served as a special liaison for the Houston Chronicle to members of the armed services in Vietnam, a role that kept her closely connected to the concerns of servicemembers during the height of the Vietnam War. Through this work she helped maintain communication and support between the newspaper, military personnel, and their families, extending her record of public service beyond elective office.

After returning from her work related to Vietnam, Thomas turned her attention back to her hometown of Nacogdoches and to the preservation of its heritage. She founded Millard’s Crossing Historic Village, a collection of restored and relocated historic structures designed to preserve and interpret the architectural and cultural history of East Texas. In addition to this major preservation effort, she served for one year on the board of regents at Stephen F. Austin State University, further contributing to the educational and cultural life of the region. She became a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution and the Daughters of the Republic of Texas, organizations that reflected her deep interest in American and Texas history.

In her later years, Thomas received numerous honors recognizing her civic leadership and contributions to Texas history and culture. Among the awards she received were the Yellow Rose of Texas Award in 1977 and the Ralph W. Steen Award in 1979. In 1985 she was honored with the Texas Governor’s Tourist Development Award and the Sons of the Republic of Texas Distinguished Service Award, acknowledging her role in promoting heritage tourism and preserving the state’s historical legacy. She was chosen as Woman of the Day by the Nacogdoches branch of the American Association of University Women in 1990, and in 1991 she was named a Paul Harris Fellow by Rotary International, reflecting broad community recognition of her service and leadership.

Lera Millard Thomas resided in Nacogdoches, Texas, for the remainder of her life. She died there on July 23, 1993, at the age of 92, and was interred in Oak Grove Cemetery. Her life encompassed roles as congressional spouse, U.S. Representative, civic leader, historic preservationist, and community advocate, and she remains a notable figure in the history of women in the United States House of Representatives and in the political and cultural life of Texas.