[1][4] At Indiana, she met her husband, Seymour Abrahamson, and moved with him to Madison, Wisconsin, for his post-doctoral work in zoology.

[6] Also in 1962, at age 28, Abrahamson became the first female lawyer hired by the Madison law firm La Follette, Sinykin, Doyle & Anderson.

[1] On August 6, 1976, Governor Patrick Lucey appointed Abrahamson to the Wisconsin Supreme Court, filling the vacancy caused by the death of justice Horace W.

In 1994, longtime chief justice Nathan Heffernan announced he would retire at the end of his term, set to expire July 31, 1995.

She was involved in deciding more than 10,000 petitions for review, bypasses, certifications and lawyer and judicial discipline cases.

[citation needed] In the April 2015 spring election, voters narrowly approved an amendment to the Wisconsin constitution that changed the way that the chief justice of the Supreme Court was selected.

Since 1889, the justice with the most seniority held the position, but the amendment allowed court members to choose the chief.

According to Abrahamson's opinion in the 2002 case State v. Gonzalez, "[U]nless a constitutional amendment provides otherwise, it takes effect upon the certification of a statewide canvass of the votes."

Thus on April 29, 2015, the same day the Wisconsin Government Accountability Board certified the vote canvass, the conservative majority on the court elected Patience D. Roggensack as the new chief justice.

[18] Abrahamson filed a federal lawsuit challenging the immediate implementation of the constitutional amendment, contending that she should remain chief justice until the expiration of her term in 2019.

U.S. District Judge James D. Peterson determined there was no harm in Roggensack serving as chief justice while Abrahamson's lawsuit continued.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, she was mostly only able to interact with her family through a window or via video call, but was able to see her son in person shortly before her death.