Colette and her husband, Tim, have been married since 1991. They honeymooned in Wichita during the “Summer of Mercy,” and were arrested three times together for rescuing babies at Wichita abortion mills. They have four children, all adopted from birth: Paul, Vida, Jack, and Lucy, born in 1998, 2000, 2005, and 2010, respectively. Colette lives with her family in Escondido, California, a town about 30 miles northeast of San Diego.
Colette graduated from UCLA in 1976 with a B.A. in Latin American Studies. She received a law degree from Loyola Law School of Los Angeles and passed the Bar in 1986. In 1994, she put her legal career on hold to become a full-time sidewalk counselor and pro-life missionary. Over a six-year period, Colette spent numerous hours every week in front of her local abortion clinics, praying and peacefully offering help to women as an alternative to abortion. By the grace of God, not only were many babies saved, but, eventually, both of the clinics where she had sidewalk counseled closed down.
In 2001, Colette returned to the practice of law when she was asked to help with an important pro-life case, National Organization for Women vs. Joe Scheidler. She was part of a team of lawyers who worked on this case over its twenty-year history, which ultimately saw a unanimous Supreme Court victory. NOW v. Scheidler is the only case to be heard three times by the U.S. Supreme Court. In 2005, Colette was honored as Life Legal Defense Foundation “Attorney of the Year” for her pro bono work on cases defending the legal rights of Christian activists who work to bring an end to abortion. She presently has her own civil litigation practice from her office in San Marcos. In addition to serving on the LLDF board, Colette and her husband have both served on the board of His Nesting Place, a large maternity home in Long Beach, Calif., since 1996.