Inaugural Impressions
Rhonda Smith Walters
Rhonda Gayle Smith was living in Elk City, Oklahoma, when she met David Lee Walters, who attended high school in nearby Canute. According to David, he first saw Rhonda driving a red Buick automobile on Main Street in downtown Elk City. The couple married in 1971 and had four children: three daughters and one son.
After David earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Oklahoma (OU), the Walters family moved to Cambridge, Massachusetts, where David received a master’s degree. The family returned to Oklahoma, where David worked as an administrator at OU before entering the real estate business with Rhonda. Rhonda began working in real estate when her first child was an infant. She also attended Central State College (now the University of Central Oklahoma) and Oklahoma State University. The couple owned a real estate company by the time David was elected governor in 1990.
David’s campaign for governor was a family affair. Their oldest son, Shaun, took time off from his college studies to work for the campaign. Rhonda was pregnant with their youngest daughter for much of the campaign, but that did not prevent her from traveling with David for events. As First Lady, Rhonda focused on issues affecting children, including prenatal care, health care, and abuse. Tragedy struck the family with the death of their son Shaun in December 1991, less than one year after David took office. A bronze sculpture was erected on the grounds of the Governor’s Mansion in his memory and to honor all children of Oklahoma’s governors. David and Rhonda continued to advocate on behalf of children’s programs for the remainder of his term.
Rhonda resumed her work selling and managing real estate after David did not seek reelection in 1994, becoming president of Oklahoma Property Investors. She also remained committed to improving the quality of life for children. In memory of her son, she established the Shaun Walters Chair in Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics at the University of Oklahoma’s College of Medicine. She was inducted into the Oklahoma Women’s Hall of Fame in 2017.
Rhonda Smith Walters, 1990
(2012.201.B1349.0454, Oklahoma Publishing Company Photography Collection, OHS)
