KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor was the first woman to serve as a Supreme Court Justice after President Ronald Reagan appointed her in 1981. O'Connor died, Friday, she was 93 years old.
Retired Tennessee Supreme Court Justice Sharon Lee said she met O'Connor a handful of times, but 2 stuck out.
The first, Lee said, was an event in Washington, D.C. The late Justice invited everybody to dance with her after they shared a meal.
"She started this conga line with these women that went all around the room we were eating," Lee said. "I was rather taken aback when she started this conga line, but I thought, when else am I going to have a chance to dance in a conga line with a U.S. Supreme Court Justice."
Lee said, that in 2008, a few weeks after Lee was appointed to the Tennessee Supreme Court, O'Connor came to an event with the Tennessee Supreme Court Historical Society. She took a photo with all of the Tennessee Supreme Court Justices, who were women.
"When she was appointed in 1981, I was 3 years out of law school," Lee said. "She was an extraordinary justice, and that made it so much better."
The U.S. Federal Court system reported that 30 years after O'Connor was appointed to the Supreme Court, the percentage of women serving as judges in the federal court system quadrupled.
"It was a great source of hope, of inspiration and really, validation that women could serve on the highest court," Lee said. "She inspired a whole generation of young women to be lawyers and to be judges because you have to sometimes see it to believe it."