[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 16 (Tuesday, February 22, 2000)]
[Senate]
[Page S655]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        TRIBUTE TO JEANNE SIMON

  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I rise today on the floor of the Senate to 
pay tribute to a great friend who passed away on Sunday. Her name was 
Jeanne Simon, the wife of my friend and former colleague in the House, 
my predecessor in the Senate, Senator Paul Simon of Illinois. Jeanne 
Simon passed away in the early morning hours on Sunday in her home in 
Makanda, IL, in the southern part of our State.
  She had been suffering for several months from a brain tumor, and the 
end was obvious when I last saw her a few weeks ago. As Paul Simon told 
me when I called and asked if we could get together: Her spirits are 
good. He was certainly right. We laughed over dinner and reminisced 
over old political experiences and had a great time, as we did for over 
30 years in similar meetings and dinners.
  Jeanne Simon was an extraordinary person. She was one of the first 
women to serve in the Illinois House of Representatives. She was a 
graduate of Northwestern Law School and served as an assistant State's 
attorney when very few women were involved in the profession, let alone 
as prosecutors.
  She met another young legislator when she served in Springfield, IL, 
a State representative named Paul Simon. The two hit it off and decided 
to get married in 1960. Jeanne Simon put her legislative and 
professional career aside to become a wife and a mother and to become a 
help mate, not just at home but in the political career of her husband, 
Paul Simon.
  President Clinton was wont to say when he was elected: America got 
two--buy one, get one free--in terms of the First Lady and her 
contribution to the Nation. We felt the same in the State of Illinois. 
Whenever we looked at the Simon package, it was Paul and Jeanne Simon 
and the kids wrapped up in a very attractive package with a polka dot 
bow tie. Time after time, election after election, the people in 
Illinois turned to Paul Simon as Congressman, as Lieutenant Governor, 
and finally as Senator and bought the package.

  Politics is a game of individual statistics. We talk about who won, 
who lost. In sports we talk about team statistics, but when it came to 
the Simons, we were dealing with a team statistic. We knew that 
whenever Paul Simon was there fighting for Illinois and the causes in 
which he believed, Jeanne Simon was right at his side.
  She had special passions and commitments to literacy and to 
education. She served as chair of the National Commission on Libraries, 
and one of the last things I ever heard from her was a call late in the 
session last year: Check on that appropriation for libraries. She was 
committed to it.
  Jeanne Simon was the kind of person, too, whom I trusted in terms of 
her judgment. She was honest and forthright and you knew when she stood 
up for a cause it was because she really believed in it.
  How many people, men and women, in Illinois political life were 
inspired and encouraged by Jeanne Simon over the years. She has left a 
great legacy. I consider myself to be one of the beneficiaries of that 
legacy. Now that she has passed away, we can reflect on the fact that 
even as a wife and mother of a great politician like Paul Simon, she 
left an enduring contribution to the State of Illinois and to the 
Nation.
  Jeanne Simon will be missed, and many in this Chamber who knew her 
and worked with her on so many important issues will appreciate, as I 
have, what a great and enduring legacy she left with her life.
  I yield the floor.
  Several Senators addressed the Chair.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Chair recognizes the Senator from Ohio.

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