Colleen Maddox

Colleen Cayton Maddox age 67 of Stevensville, Maryland died Sunday February 8, 2009. She was born at Mound City, Kansas the daughter of Donald and Hilma Switzer Ungeheuer. She was raised in Centerville, Kansas, where, she learned the deep-seated roots of American virtues, hard work, a love of the land and its people and a belief that she could make a difference. Colleen raised and sold cattle to help pay her way through Kansas State University. She was a member of 4H, a cheerleader and a runner-up Miss Kansas. Early in her career, she came to Washington and worked as an aide to Congressman Joe Skubitz, R-Kan. She then went to work for Sen. William D. Hathaway, D-Maine. In 1968, when Congress was looking for seasoned staffers to work with the eight recently elected black congressmen, Colleen volunteered to work for Rep. Bill Clay Sr., D-Mo. During this very tumultuous time, marked by the Vietnam War and the assassinations of Martin Luther King Jr. and Bobbie Kennedy, she worked as Clay?s administrative assistant and speechwriter. Indeed, she penned many of his more inflammatory speeches dealing with racial injustice. Later in her career, she joined her then-husband, Wendell Cayton, in the ski-area management business, which took them to New York, New Hampshire and later to Denver, where she became development director of Denver Public Libraries. She then moved to Del Mar, Ca., to a management consulting position with a large firm in the nuclear energy industry that was later absorbed by Halliburton. It was then back to DC in 1988 to marry Ruffin Maddox, a homebuilder and Realtor. She subsequently joined him in the real estate industry, Washington Fine Properties in 1996. Colleen is survived by her mother, Hilma Ungeheuer, her two brothers, Dillard and David Ungeheuer, and a sister Beth Wilson, all of Centerville, Kan. She is also survived by her two sons, Schuyler and Sean and wife Cathy Cayton of Denver and Colorado Springs, Co., respectively, as well as two grandchildren, Abigail and Harper of Colorado Springs. She is also survived by her husband of 21 years, Ruffin Maddox and his two daughters, Jennifer and Katherine and two grandsons, Henry and Chalmers. Funeral services will be held at 1 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 14, at Federated Church in Blue Mound. The family suggests contributions be made to Lung Cancer Association or Hospice in care of Coffel-Schneider, P.O. Box J, Mound City, Kansas 66056. On line condolences for the family can be left at www.coffelschneider.com. Arrangements: Coffel-Schneider, Mound City, Kansas.