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Born in Washington County, Illinois, on Jan. 5, 1867, Theodora Sprecher graduated from Southern Illinois Normal School in Carbondale before heading to ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ in 1894 to teach school in Nogales.

Leaving her teaching job in 1897, she took the position of county deputy treasurer the following year.

On July 30, 1902, at the age of 35, Theodora married Nogales businessman George Brinton Marsh, one of the town’s leader entrepreneurs. The Marsh enterprises consisted of hardware and furniture stores. George also built the first two-story brick building in town. Theodora worked alongside her husband in his businesses, and upon his death in 1911, she took over management of his companies and built them into a lucrative conglomerate.

The town of Nogales recognized the business acumen of Theodora, and she was soon appointed to the board of directors of the Nogales’ International Gas, Ice, Electric, Light and Power Plant, while also serving on the board of the Santa Cruz Valley National Bank & Trust, and director of the Nogales Chamber of Commerce. She had already joined the Nogales Equal Suffrage League and was one of the leaders of the movement in the county.

She also organized the Nogales Red Cross and served as president of the Santa Cruz Women’s Club.

Theodora had joined the Nogales Equal Suffrage League in 1912 and when she decided to run for a seat in the ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ House of Representatives, she argued for women’s rights. “One of the reasons we should be given the ballot is because our forefathers taught us that ‘taxation without representative is tyranny.’ We do not wish to take any rights from the men … But we think we understand the needs of women and children better than you do. … We are only asking for the privilege that belongs to the other half of the people.â€�

Nogales newspapers supported Theodora in her run for the House, with one paper calling her “one of ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥â€™s most intelligent women,â€� while another touted the “executive ability of this energetic business woman.â€�

Winning handily, her election made her the only state representative from Santa Cruz County.

Arriving in Phoenix, Theodora had in tow not only a cook and chauffeur but also a nursemaid to look after the twin girls she had recently adopted, 5-year-olds Georgia and Elizabeth. Their mother, who was suffering with tuberculosis, could no longer care for them.

Comparing the three women representatives in the Third ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ Legislature, one newspaper described Pauline O’Neill as the “leader in the suffrage campaign,â€� while claiming Rosa McKay was “a bit more aggressiveâ€� than the other two representatives. Theodora was described as “quiet and retiring in her manner, but whose ability is unquestioned when it is recalled that the gentle woman is the president and general manager of a large business establishment and president of a woman’s club of 110 members,â€� and “the wealthiest member of the legislature.â€�

The paper went on to prophesize, “While the women may not vote the same way on all the measures that come before them, they all declare they share one interest and that is — good laws pertaining to women and children.�

Using her vast business expertise, Theodora served as a member of committees that dealt with the finances of the state: Ways and Means, Efficient Government, and Accounting and Business Methods (which she chaired). She was also a member of the Education, Public Health and Statistics, and Public Institutions committees. She introduced several bills and was instrumental in securing a child welfare board and a commission for public institutions. She helped abolish the State Board of Control. But her efforts to pass a bill allowing women to serve on juries was unsuccessful.

In 1918 Gov. George Hunt appointed her to the executive committee of the State Council of Defense, the only woman on the board.

Theodora served two years in the House of Representatives. In 1920, she threw her hat in the ring for a seat in the state Senate. Nogales newspapers noted the work she had done for suffrage in the House of Representatives and predicted she would “have the earnest backing and support of a large following of earnest, progressive Democrats, and the support of all the women in the county.�

But whether by chance or choice, she never signed the petition for candidacy and instead headed for Europe on an extended trip after dropping her children off with her sister in Virginia.

Her reputation as an astute businesswoman, however, continued to place her in demand. Gov. Hunt named her to the ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ Board of Regents in 1923, where she served until 1936.

Theodora sold the Marsh business conglomerate in 1921.

Continuing to be active in the suffrage movement, she was elected president of the Nogales League of Women Voters in 1922.

Owning homes in Nogales, ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ and Venice, California, Theodora traveled extensively. She was headed from her California home to Nogales when she became ill. Theodora died in Phoenix on April 17, 1936, at the age of 69. Her ashes were returned to Nogales for burial beside her husband.