Margie Mixson

In 1979, Mixson was appointed to serve as one of the thirty-eight members of the Florida Commission on the Status of Women which also had state Representative Elaine Gordon and Representative Carrie Meek.^[13] She served as the chairwoman of one of the commission sessions which discussed spousal abuse, the Equal Rights Amendment, sex education, lesbian mother rights, rehabilitation efforts for women, and economic discrimination.^[14] She opposed the passage of the Equal Rights Amendment, but support abortion rights.^[4]

In 1986, she asked for the Health and Rehabilitative Services Committee in the Florida Senate to approve legislation that would place an additional tax on cigarettes to raise money for cancer research and treatment.^[15] During the 1970s she had undergone a double mastectomy for breast cancer treatment.^[16]

In 1986, Governor Bob Graham won election to the United States Senate. On January 3, 1987, he resigned from the governorship to take office in the Senate.^[17] On January 3, Wayne Mixson was inaugurated as the 39th Governor of Florida by Chief Justice Parker Lee McDonald of the Florida Supreme Court while Margie Mixson held the Bible.^[18][19] She served as the First Lady of Florida during her husband's three day gubernatorial tenure.^[20]

After Mixson's husband left office they returned to their farm in Jackson County, Florida to raise cattle and grow peanuts, cotton, and soybeans.^[21]

On July 8, 2020, Wayne Mixson died in Tallahassee, Florida, at the age of 98.^[22] She died in Panama City, Florida, on December 27, 2023, at the age of 96.^[23]