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. They live in Vista, California, a town about 30 miles north 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 of the clinics where she had sidewalk counseled both 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 law practice from her office in Vista and is working to build up a practice specializing in adoption. Since 1996 Colette and her husband Tim have jointly served on the board of His Nesting Place maternity home in Long Beach, California. In 2012, Colette helped start Agnus Dei Foundation, a charity that seeks to champion adoption as a viable and positive alternative to abortion or single parenting. In 2013, the organization opened the adoption-focused, Lamb of God maternity home in Escondido, California. Colette served on the Agnus Dei board of directors from its founding until 2018.