[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 127 (Wednesday, September 26, 2001)]
[Senate]
[Pages S9824-S9825]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
TRIBUTE TO MARY BERRY GERWIN
Ms. COLLINS. Madam President, as our Nation mourns the loss of
thousands of our citizens in the terrorist attacks on America, many of
us in Washington and in Maine also grieve the passing of a very special
person who devoted her professional life to public service, Mary Berry
Gerwin.
Mary was only 46 when she died on September 18, after a courageous 9-
year battle with cancer. In her short time on Earth, however, Mary had
a greater impact on public policy and on those of us who knew her than
most people accomplish in lifetimes that last twice as long as hers.
I will share with my colleagues a little bit about Mary's remarkable
career in public service. Most recently, Mary held the position of
Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs. During her
tenure at the Pentagon, she received the Outstanding Public Servant
Award from then-Secretary of Defense Bill Cohen.
Among Mary's duties at the Pentagon were working with service
members, retirees, and their families on a variety of health care
issues. She traveled extensively to the Middle East, Korea, and Bosnia,
to meet firsthand with service members to discuss health care and
quality-of-life issues. She also visited refugee camps in Kosovo to
help improve conditions there as well.
I came to know Mary when we worked closely together as staff members
on the Senate Subcommittee on Oversight of Government Management from
1981 to 1987. The very first day I met her, I knew Mary was a star. She
was extraordinarily bright, and no one ever worked harder or longer.
Her work ethic was legendary. In fact, her longtime boss, former
Senator and Secretary of Defense Bill Cohen, remarked of Mary that a
raised eyebrow could send her back to her desk at 8 p.m. to work
another 4 hours to midnight.
She was also a lot of fun, with an optimistic outlook and a quick wit
that helped to sustain her through her lengthy illness. Mary succeeded
me as the subcommittee staff director in early 1987. She then went on
to serve as staff director of the Senate Special Committee on Aging
when Senator Bill Cohen became its chairman.
During her years in the Senate, Mary contributed enormously to
legislative accomplishments. She drafted significant bills, including
the Social Security disability reform bill, landmark anti fraud and
abuse legislation, nursing home, and long-term care Medicaid reforms,
the Independent Counsel Act, the Ethics In Government Act amendments,
and a major revision of the Clinical Laboratories Improvement Act, as
well as procurement and information technology reforms. Mary was
particularly proud of Aging Committee hearings in 1996 that led to
increased funding for the National Institutes of Health for research on
diseases such as Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, and spinal cord injuries.
Mary touched so many lives. Members of our Armed Forces and senior
citizens who never had the pleasure of meeting Mary have better lives
because of her work. But it is we who knew her personally who were
truly pleased. Mary was kind and generous, not only to those of us who
were her friend but to everyone she met or with whom she came in
contact. Let me tell you one story.
Every day Mary would purchase her Washington Post from an elderly
man. Her husband Ed used to chuckle that Mary was the only person in
Washington who would spend $5 every day buying her newspaper.
Mary approached her illness with an abiding faith and remarkable
courage and cheerfulness, even as she underwent excruciatingly painful
treatments for her cancer. Whenever I called to check on her, she was
remarkably upbeat and optimistic. She would quickly turn the
conversation to what I or another friend was doing, rather than talking
about the treatments she was undergoing.
I am reminded of Walter Mondale's tribute to one of our greatest
Senators, Hubert Humphrey, shortly after Senator Humphrey's death. He
said: Hubert taught us how to live and he taught us how to die. Mary,
too, taught us how to live and how to die.
Mary's boss for two decades, former Secretary of Defense and Senator
Bill Cohen, delivered an eloquent eulogy to Mary at her funeral mass on
Sunday. I ask unanimous consent that his eulogy be printed in the
Record at the conclusion of my remarks.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so
ordered.
(See exhibit No. 1.)
Ms. COLLINS. Our thoughts and prayers are with Mary's wonderful
family, particularly her mother, her husband Ed, and her two daughters,
Katie and Kristen. Katie worked as an intern in my office during this
past summer and she is so like her mother--bright, cheerful, strong,
and hard working. Mary's legacy is reflected in those terrific
daughters, as well as in her professional career. I am so thankful to
have had the opportunity to have been her friend.
Exhibit No. 1
Eulogy by William S. Cohen of Mary Gerwin, September 22, 2001
We have all been overwhelmed and immobilized by grief in
the days since the terrorist attacks last week. Grief has had
the power to silence us, to bring us together, to rouse us to
action. As we have gathered around television sets since
September 11, staring mutely at the incomprehensible carnage
and horror, we may have had some acquaintance with the
victims or we have simply grieved for our nation and our
fellow citizens.
Today is different. Today, we are truly taking note of a
death in the family. A death in Mary's immediate family, of
course, but also in the family of unique individuals I have
been privileged to assemble and work with during years in
Congress, the Pentagon, and beyond. This is a team of
talented men and women who are bound together by many
invisible threads, who have worked together, played together,
sometimes fought together, and looked after each other for
more than 25 years.
Mary's death has brought us here today, and we grieve and
we are angry. Angry that she was so sick for so long, angry
that she left us at such a ridiculously young age. But even
in our anger and our grief, we celebrate her. Everyone in
this room knew Mary as a colleague, an employee, a boss, a
mother, a daughter, a sister, a wife, or a friend. I'd like
to talk about the Mary I knew, the Mary all of us knew.
My friendship with Mary started 20 years age. I was a
freshman senator, and she was a kid from Portland who had
just gotten out of law school. She came to work for me and,
unbeknownst to either of us, we started an adventure together
that led to writing and changing major laws in this country,
led to her visiting and working with US troops in Korea,
Bosnia and Saudi Arabia, led to her working with refugee
camps in Kosovo, and led to a friendship as well.
But it started for both of us in Maine. Mary didn't come
from a well-to-do family. Neither did I. Mary lost her dad
when she was just a baby, and her Mother worked at the
railroad and raised four terrific kids on her own. Mary knew
how real people in Maine worked and loved and struggled, and
that knowledge made her very effective when she helped to
write and rewrite the laws that affected their lives.
Mary and I had something else in common. We both started
out as practicing lawyers. But not for long. We were both
drawn to the greater possibilities of public service. Mary
graduated cum laude from Georgetown Law and spent a very
short and uninspiring few months at a law firm, which
prompted her to look for work on the Hill. It was one of the
luckiest things that could have happened to me.
It seemed there was nothing Mary couldn't do. She worked
closely with a great team that included another remarkable
young woman named Susan Collins, whose service as a United
States Senator today makes us
[[Page S9825]]
all very proud. Together, this group ran a subcommittee that
oversaw how government programs are run and tried to improve
them. Later, Mary ran the staff of the Senate Aging Committee
as well, working to improve the lives of older Americans.
Once I got to know Mary and her work habits, I used to joke
with her that the Nuns must have really gotten to her in
Catholic school--I had never seen anyone who would stay so
late, work so hard, or be so easily made to feel guilty about
leaving anything undone. A simple raised eyebrow could send
her back to her desk until midnight.
A truly dedicated mother, Mary understood deeply the
difficult balance between being a good parent and being a
professional. But instead of complaining about it, she took
action--helping to create the Senate Child Care Center so
that her children and others could get the highest quality
child care and pre-school education.
Because of Mary Gerwin and her energy and innate sense of
fairness and compassion, here are some of the ways our
country is different, and better:
--Disabled Americans live in greater dignity,
--The savings of older Americans are better protected from
investment fraud,
--There is less fraud and abuse in the health care system,
--People who receive Medicaid and live in nursing homes are
treated better,
--The government spends its contracting dollars more
wisely, resulting in billions of dollars saved,
--More research money is spent fighting conditions such as
Parkinson's Disease and spinal cord injuries.
There was another effort that Mary championed, and it is
called the Independent Counsel Act. Not everyone loved this
law. My old boss, President Clinton, really didn't love it.
But we worked hard on it because the law said, in effect, no
one is above the law, even the President. Mary Gerwin kept
this law alive almost single-handedly. Many people,
particularly in our own party, opposed this effort. Mary
fought for it anyway, and she won.
When I went to the Pentagon, I asked Mary to come with me.
She was the person I turned to health issues affecting our
troops, and there were many such issues. She worked with
me and with a deeply talented public servant, Rudy De
Leon, who also became a good friend to Mary. She didn't
just know the right answers--she found out from the troops
what they needed.
Even in times when her illness was sapping her strength,
she was traveling to Korea, to Bosnia, to Saudi Arabia to
talk to our forces and find out how the Department of Defense
could serve them better.
She came with Janet and me in 1999 for our annual holiday
visit to the troops, which is a very arduous trip involving
several countries in just a few days and in bad weather. But
she wanted to go, and she brought great comfort to the many
troops she spent time with.
After I left office, Secretary Rumsfeld asked Mary to stay
on, and she worked well into June before she became too
weary. She loved working with the troops. In this way, she
was like the father she never knew, who was a Navy recruiter
and loved helping young sailors with their problems.
I mention a sampling of Mary's accomplishments for a
reason--to underscore the good that can be done in a life of
public service. Mary's accomplishments would be extremely
impressive if they were spread over a 50 year career. She had
such a short time, and she did so much.
Her accomplishments would also be impressive if they were
all she did. But she saved her best energy for being a wife
and a mother, as well as a daughter and a sister.
You only have to spend a few minutes with Katie and Kristen
to see what kind of mother Mary has been, as well as what
kind of father Ed has been. Katie and Kristen are exemplary
young women--apples who have not fallen very far from the
tree. And Mary and Ed had one of the best marriages I knew
of--supportive and positive and loving at all times, even the
bad times.
It is remarkable to reflect on Mary's degree of
professional accomplishment and personal success when we
consider the inescapable fact that the last ten years of her
life were spent fighting an awful illness. The pain and
difficulty she endured is unimaginable to most of us. Many of
us would have given into despair. Mary stayed positive and
productive even in the worst of times. She hated to be
thought of as sick. She hated for people to cut her any slack
because of her illness.
It is tempting for us all to be angry and feel cheated
about a life which ended so soon and had so much suffering in
the last ten years. I knew Mary for 20 years, and I wish I
had 20 more with her. But we know that we were lucky to know
her at all. Rarely in life are we fortunate enough to
appreciate the truly special people in our lives. Mary was
someone you could count on. She touched all of our lives. She
made us laugh, she astonished us with her bravery and
devotion to God. There will never be a day that her smile,
her love, and her courage will be far from our thoughts.
On September 11, a great many friends and colleagues of
ours at the Pentagon, and many more we didn't know in New
York, passed from this world to a better place. Last Tuesday,
they were joined by a very special angel. Mary, we will miss
you.
Mr. REID. I suggest the absence of a quorum.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The clerk will call the roll.
The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
Mr. WYDEN. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order
for the quorum call be rescinded.
The PRESIDING OFFICER (Ms. Stabenow). Without objection, it is so
ordered.
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