[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 173 (Monday, November 24, 2003)]
[Senate]
[Page S15809]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         ADDITIONAL STATEMENTS

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                       ON THE LIFE OF EDITH NASH

 Mr. FEINGOLD. Mr. President, I pay tribute today to a good 
friend and a great Wisconsinite who recently passed away, leaving 
behind an inspiring legacy of community leadership, of creativity, and 
of true benevolence.
  In Wisconsin, Edith's enterprise was evident in both her dedication 
to the arts and her success in the private sector. A community leader, 
she served as a board member of the Meiklejohn Educational Association, 
as administrator of the Wisconsin Rapids Community Company of Players, 
and as a member of the Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters. 
Privately, she was vice president and later president of her family's 
business, the Biron Cranberry Co.
  Never one to stand still, Edith continued to reinvent herself time 
and time again, even late in life. After selling the Biron Company, 
Edith delved into poetry, publishing five books and founding a writers' 
group when she was well into her eighties.
  Earlier in her life, Edith lived in Washington, DC, where she was 
dismayed and outraged at the state of the city's segregated public 
school system. So, with her husband Philleo, she founded one of the 
District's first integrated schools in 1945, the Georgetown Day School. 
Later, she served as the school's director for 14 years.
  While at the Georgetown Day School, Edith challenged her new students 
by telling them that ``If you really don't like the idea of standing on 
your own two feet and beginning to be the master of your own life--if 
you'd rather be a chip in the ocean with the mammoth water raising and 
lowering you and you making no effort at all--don't come to Georgetown 
Day School. Ask your folks to help you find a regular school where 
you'll not have so much to do yourself.''
  Edith followed her own words; as a poet, mother, philanthropist, 
academic, and businesswomen, she was no chip in the ocean. And even in 
her ninth decade, she continued to work hard and inspire new 
generations. Her work and ideas knew no bounds.
  Edith Nash's death is a great loss to all of us who knew her, and all 
those whose lives were touched by her many good works. I am deeply 
saddened by her passing, but I know that her leadership, creativity and 
generosity have left a lasting mark on our State and our 
country.

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