Elaine F. Marshall is the current North Carolina Secretary of State; she is the first woman to be elected to that office and the first woman elected to statewide executive office in North Carolina. Marshall was the Democratic Party's nominee for the United States Senate seat currently held by Republican Richard Burr in the 2010 election, which she lost. Marshall was born in Lineboro, Maryland in 1945. Her father was a farmer who, for many years, served as a volunteer fire fighter and community leader, and her mother was the organist in the family’s small rural church for more than 60... years. She attended public schools as a child and became the first person in her family to graduate college. She studied textiles at the University of Maryland from 1964 to 1968, earning a Bachelor of Science degree in Textiles and Clothing. During her undergraduate years, she spent her summers working as a camping director for the Maryland 4-H Foundation, an organization she has continued to support. After graduation, Marshall taught in the public schools of Lenoir County, North Carolina and then ran a book and gift store.
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