We called her Louise. In western New York that was the only name needed to immediately identify her. Everybody knew her and most of us loved her—which is why she was elected for 16 terms of office. Born in Kentucky, she never quite lost that mild southern accent or a husky contagious laugh. My initial experience with her was in the nineteen-nineties when my first book was published. My editor had sent Louise an ARC (advance reading copy), but I didn’t know it until the day the book came out—and there was a wonderfully unique quote from Louise on the back cover. A few months later I met her for the first time at a Women’s Rights Memorial celebration in Seneca Falls. And saw her at following ones every year. She attended almost every Woman’s Rights event in our historic area and became a role model for thousands of western NY girls. We’ll never know how many she influenced to “go and be the best you can be.” The last time I saw her was election day 2016 at Susan B. Anthony’s grave. Like the hundreds and hundreds of women and girls who visited Anthony’s grave that day to show our gratitude, she expected Hillary to win.
A few springs ago, my neighborhood (on a cul-de-sac) was being flooded every time it rained by the BIG, historic Irondequoit Creek we live on. Hadn’t happened before. Town engineer told us to suck it up and get used to it—climate change was to blame. (It’s the only time I’ve heard a Republican town official even acknowledge climate change.) Louise heard about it. And within 48 hours of that, trucks and bulldozers and steam shovels arrived to clean out a thoroughly debris-clogged arch beneath an expressway bridge under which the creek flowed. This after months of us being told by town and state engineers that it would be another 18 months before they might be able to get at it. Louise got things done! Ours is just one small neighborhood, but she was there for us.
She was a trailblazer. In Congress she was the first ever female chair of the Rules Committee. Her degree in microbiology meant our Great Lakes environment was always on her mind. At age 88 she was still a smart, articulate, energetic, immensely warm, and funny woman who put her constituents first. She was a perfect example, and then some, of what a congressional representative should be. Always available to us, she put her constituents first. The world today looks a little more drab to me without Louise in it.