Longtime state 23rd District Rep. Sherry Appleton dies

By Staff report • October 25, 2023 1:30 am
Appleton
Appleton

Former 23rd state Legislative District representative and longtime Poulsbo resident Sherry Appleton died recently at the age of 80.

Appleton, a Democrat, served the district for 16 years from 2005-2021. The district includes Bainbridge Island, Kingston, Silverdale, East Bremerton, Suquamish, Port Gamble and Keyport. She served two terms as a Poulsbo City Councilmember in the 1980s and ‘90s.

“Sherry Appleton’s passing is sad news for our state,” Gov. Jay Inslee posted on his X account. “She was a skilled legislator and incredibly caring person, always positive and engaging. I was proud to call her my state rep and even more proud to call her friend.”

As a state representative, Appleton was vice-chair of both the House Health Care & Human Services Appropriations Committee and the State Government & Tribal Affairs Committee, as well as a member of the Public Safety & Emergency Preparedness Committee, her legislative biography states.

Outside the legislature, Appleton sat on the state Sentencing Guidelines Commission and chaired the Commission’s Juvenile Sentencing Committee, and was appointed to serve on the state’s Public Defense Advisory Committee. She was also a charter member of Legislators’ Leadership Council on HIV/AIDS at the Center for Women’s Policy Studies in Washington, D.C.

Appleton is a former member of the state Commission on Judicial Conduct and was appointed by Presidents George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton to serve on the state Advisory Committee to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights.

She also served on the Board of Directors of the Association of Washington Cities, on the Northwest Women’s Law Center Legislative Committee, as chair of the NARAL PAC, board member of NARAL, and vice-chair of the state’s Women’s Political Caucus.

In addition, she was elected in 2000 to represent the 1st commissioner district as a freeholder and serve with 20 other elected freeholders to review the Kitsap County Charter, per her biography.

During her tenure in the House, Appleton worked on policy issues ranging from criminal justice to health care to education and transportation. She helped draft and pass the Patients’ Bill of Rights. During the 2009-10 legislative session, she was instrumental in restoring funding for the Frances Haddon Morgan Center and the Poulsbo Marine Science Center, for family planning clinics statewide, and for life-saving digital mammography services for low-income women.