Sandra Day O'Connor
Sandra Day O'Connor, her family concerned that she get a good education, was sent to live with her grandmother in El Paso, and to attend private school and then high school there. Returning one year to the ranch when she was thirteen, a long school bus ride dimmed her enthusiasm and she returned to Texas and her grandmother. She graduated from high school at 16.
In 1981, President Ronald Reagan, fulfilling a campaign promise to nominate a qualified woman to the Supreme Court, nominated Sandra Day O'Connor. She was confirmed by the Senate with 91 votes, becoming the first woman to serve as a justice on the US Supreme Court.
Sandra Day O'Connor announced her retirement as an associate justice in 2005, pending appointment of a replacement, which took place when Samuel Alito was sworn in, on January 31, 2006. Sandra Day O'Connor indicated a desire to spend more time with her family; her husband was afflicted with Alzheimer's.