[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 90 (Wednesday, June 23, 1999)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1373]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  A TRIBUTE TO JANE QUINE, FORMER CONGRESSIONAL STAFFER; AKRON, OHIO, 
                                ACTIVIST

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. TOM SAWYER

                                of ohio

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, June 23, 1999

  Mr. SAWYER. Mr. Speaker, with her lilting Milledgeville, Georgia, 
accent, Jane Quine became an improbable but highly effective political 
leader in Akron, Ohio, for 25 years. Jane Quine died at age 81 last 
Thursday in Jacksonville, Florida. She has left us with abundant 
memories of her leadership, her grace, and her seemingly boundless 
energy.
  Mrs. Quine served twice as a congressional staffer. First, she worked 
for Rep. Carl Vinson during the build-up and height of World War II. 
This was where she met Akronite John Quine. Mr. Quine, on assignment to 
Vinson's Naval Affairs Committee, was persuasive enough not only to 
marry her, but to convince her to make Akron her home.
  We didn't call it the ``mommy track'' back then, but Jane Quine did 
give up active politics for about two decades while she raised six 
children. Then she returned to the political arena in 1970 as a 
campaign worker for John Seiberling, my predecessor in Congress. With 
Rep. Seiberling, she reprised her role as congressional staffer, 
becoming his District Director for several years.
  Then she ran a number of key local campaigns, including my own 
campaigns for Mayor of Akron and for the U.S. House of Representatives. 
Unlike the smoke-filled rooms that local politics sometimes bring to 
mind, Jane Quine used her gracious home as the setting for countless 
meetings, both formal and informal, as she built a strong party 
network. She mentored, and some would say mothered, politicians from 
across the county. All along, the values she espoused were democratic, 
in the broadest sense of the word--duty, activism, inclusion, 
participation, service.
  In 1986, Governor Richard Celeste appointed her to the University of 
Akron board of trustees, where she served through 1995. In 1990, Jane 
Quine became the first woman to chair the Summit County Democratic 
Party. She also served on the board of the Akron-Canton Regional 
Airport for most of the 1980's as it prepared for a period of 
unprecedented growth.
  Those of us left behind in snowy Ohio regretted her leaving in 1995 
for St. Augustine, Florida, where she immersed herself in still more 
worthy causes. Still, a whole generation of Akron's public officials 
found her departure left a distinct void in our lives, compounded by 
Thursday's sad news.
  Mr. Speaker, I ask that Tuesday's editorial from the Akron Beacon 
Journal, recounting Mrs. Quine's many contributions to the Akron area, 
by printed in the Record.

       Jane Quine: Always a Democrat, Always There for Democrats

       If ever there was a person associated with polite politics, 
     it was Jane Quine. A genteel, old-fashioned Southerner, Mrs. 
     Quine believed that slash-and-burn campaigns did the practice 
     of professional politics, which she loved, far more harm than 
     good.
       Mrs. Quine, who died last week in Florida at age 81, was 
     the rock on which many local political careers were built. 
     She was a mainstay of local Democratic politics for several 
     decades, including service as the first female county 
     Democratic chairman. A self-described ``stamp-licker'' for 
     U.S. Rep. John Seiberling's first successful campaign, Mrs. 
     Quine is credited either with launching political careers or 
     helping to sustain them with wise counsel, vast energy and 
     unwavering loyalty.
       She couldn't resist the call to help Democrats. She became 
     active in party politics in St. Augustine, Fla., where she 
     moved in 1995. After all, she said, ``There aren't many of us 
     down here.''
       Her innate sense of right and wrong kept her involved. 
     Politics requires two strong parties, and she was a true 
     Democrat. She also believed in her duty to the community, 
     serving on the boards of the University of Akron and the 
     Akron-Canton Regional Airport.
       If local politics has turned harsh, it may be because 
     people such as Jane Quine aren't on the scene to give it a 
     firm but far gentler push toward reason.

     

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