[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 4 (Friday, January 9, 2009)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E58]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        IN MEMORY OF MARY JAMES

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. IKE SKELTON

                              of missouri

                    in the house of representatives

                        Friday, January 9, 2009

  Mr. SKELTON. Madam Speaker, it is with deep sorrow that I inform the 
House of the death of Mrs. Mary L. James.
  Mary, who was born in West Plains, MO, was a graduate of 
Harrisonville, MO, High School and the University of Missouri, where 
she received a bachelor of science degree in education. Mary also 
earned a master's of public administration degree from the University 
of Kansas.
  Through the years, Mary dedicated her life to education, health care, 
and to the betterment of her community and her state. She was a 
teacher, a volunteer, and lived her whole life surrounded by or working 
in the news business. In 1999, Missouri Governor Mel Carnahan appointed 
Mary as a member of the University of Missouri Board of Curators, and 
she became the board's president in 2005.
  Mary also served organizations affiliated with the University of 
Missouri, which she so dearly loved, including the Chancellor's Fund 
for Excellence, the Advisory and Development Committee within the 
College of Education, and the Griffith's Leadership Society for Women. 
Mary was also a member of the Jefferson Club. In 2005, the Alumni 
Alliance recognized Mary for Outstanding Alumni Service to the 
University of Missouri System.
  Mary also worked as the executive director of the Cass Medical Center 
Foundation, on the board of the Healthcare Foundation of Greater Kansas 
City, and on the board of the Cass Medical Foundation. In 2006, she was 
recognized by the University of Missouri as a Distinguished Friend to 
the School of Nursing because of her commitment to health care and to 
the University.
  Mary also served as a member of the Harrisonville Park Board, 
including time as chairman. During her tenure on the park board, she 
advocated for a community sales tax that led to building a pool and 
maintenance facility for the city of Harrisonville, she wrote a grant 
and raised funds to build an outdoor theater, and she helped plan for a 
community center. Mary was a member of the Harrisonville Chamber of 
Commerce, the Harrisonville United Methodist Church, Chapter G.R. PEO, 
Delta Gamma, and the University of Missouri Alumni Association.
  Mary's family had been prominent in the Missouri newspaper business. 
Her parents, the late J.W. Brown, Jr., and Wanda A. Brown, were 
publishers of the Cass County Democrat-Missourian in Harrisonville. Her 
father served as Missouri Press Association President. She worked for 
26 years as the human resources manager for Cass County Publishing, 
volunteering extensively in her spare time.
  In 1971, Mary married Bill James, who himself has been a prominent 
figure in the Missouri newspaper business and is a former president of 
the Missouri Press Association. Bill is now the publisher of the Daily 
Star-Journal in Warrensburg, Missouri.
  Mary, who is survived by Bill, by her two sons and their wives, by 
one granddaughter, by her mother, and by her sister, will be remembered 
fondly by all who had the privilege of knowing her, including me. She 
has led an exemplary life, which ought to serve as a model for young 
people in Missouri and throughout our nation. I know members of the 
Congress will join me in paying tribute the life of Mary James and in 
extending condolences to her family and friends.

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