[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 66 (Monday, May 13, 1996)]
[Senate]
[Page S4959]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




           JUSTICE FLORENCE K. MURRAY--40 YEARS OF EXCELLENCE

  Mr. PELL. Mr. President, I rise to share with my colleagues the good 
news of a major landmark in Rhode Island history and in the life of 
Justice Florence Kerins Murray. This month we celebrated the 40th 
anniversary of her appointment as the first woman justice in Rhode 
Island history.
  I have known and admired Justice Murray for much of my life, and I 
would like to share some of the many highlights of this remarkable 
woman's dramatic career with you.
  She was born in Newport on October 21, 1916, educated in Newport 
public schools and received her B.A. from Syracuse University. After a 
brief teaching career at the Prudence Island School, she earned her 
LL.B. in 1942 from Boston University Law School and was admitted to the 
Massachusetts Bar.
  With World War II in progress, Justice Murray enlisted in the Women's 
Army Corps, and was commissioned as a second lieutenant in 1942. 
Serving in a variety of posts she left the corps as a lieutenant 
colonel at war's end, only to be recalled to duty for a special 
assignment in 1947.
  Returning to Rhode Island, she sat for the State bar, was admitted, 
and practiced law alone and in association with her husband, Paul F. 
Murray, to whom she was married in 1943 at St. Mary's Church, Newport. 
They are the parents of a son, Paul M. Murray.
  She began her distinguished political career in 1948, serving 
simultaneously on the Newport School Committee and in the Rhode Island 
State Senate until 1956. She focused on issues ranging from the welfare 
of children and youth to facilities for the elderly.
  In 1956, Florence Murray was appointed by Governor Dennis J. Roberts 
as an associate justice of the Rhode Island Superior Court, the first 
woman justice in Rhode Island history.
  Twenty-two years later she became the first woman presiding justice 
of that court. In 1979, she was elected to her present position on the 
Rhode Island Supreme Court, one of the first women to serve on a State 
court of last resort in the United States.
  Justice Murray's career is marked by service and leadership in the 
regional and national Trial Judges Association, and the National 
Judicial College--where she served as chair of the board of directors 
of the college.
  The recipient of numerous awards for outstanding service, including 
nine honorary doctorates, Justice Murray was honored at a ceremony 6 
years ago in which the Newport County Courthouse was rededicated as the 
Florence Kerins Murray Judicial Complex.
  Once again, it was a first. The program notes from the ceremony state 
the rededication ``marks the first time that a major court facility in 
the United States has been designated in honor of a woman jurist.''
  Justice Murray is truly a wonderful, remarkable individual who has 
earned her place in the history of both Rhode Island and the Nation. I 
know that I reflect the thoughts of countless Rhode Islanders as we 
wish her well on the 40th anniversary of her appointment as a Rhode 
Island State Justice.

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