Lois Rhame West (September 5, 1921 – May 6, 2014) was an American health and physical fitness advocate, activist, and philanthropist. She served as First Lady of South Carolina from 1971 until 1975 during the administration of her husband, Governor John C. West. Rhame West, a former faculty member at the University of South Carolina, made physical education and wellness the focus of her tenure as the state's First Lady. West later became the first woman serve as president of the Muscular Dystrophy Association, a position she held for two terms. She served on the Muscular Dystrophy Association's national board of directors for forty years. Biography West was born Lois Rhame on September 5, 1921, in Camden, South Carolina to Boykin W. and Annie L. Rhame. She graduated from Camden High School in 1939. She enrolled at Winthrop College, a women's college in Rock Hill, South Carolina, which is now known Winthrop University. She studied physical education. (Winthrop later became a co-educational school during the 1970s). She was active in collegiate athletics as a member of the women's field hockey, tennis and golf teams. On August 29, 1942, while still a college student, Rhame married John C. West at a ceremony in Fort Monmouth, New Jersey. She became the first Winthrop student to marry while in school and still graduate. Lois West received a bachelor's degree in physical education from Winthrop in 1943, becoming the first married woman to graduate from the college. Lois West joined the faculty of the University of South Carolina, where she taught while her husband completed his law degree. West campaigned statewide for her husband during his 1970 gubernatorial campaign. John West was sworn into office in January 1971 at a time when racial tensions were still high in the state. In his inaugural address, Governor West promised to make South Carolina "colorblind" and erase "any vestige of discrimination" from his government. His promises drew threats from the state's Ku Klux Klan. Lois West recognized the danger posed by the Klan to her husband. In a 1998 interview for an oral history project at the University of South Carolina, West recalled her reaction, "If they did something, there were enough Klan members on the grand jury (that) nobody ever got indicted"..."The Grand Dragon lived down near me...so I sent him a message that if anything happened to John, he didn't have to worry about the