[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 15 (Monday, January 26, 2009)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E138]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         IN HONOR OF MARY GREEN

                                 ______
                                 

                             HON. SAM FARR

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                        Monday, January 26, 2009

  Mr. FARR. Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor the memory of a great 
woman and model citizen. Mary Reese Green, of Monterey, California, 
lived her life to make the world a better place. She was many things: 
civil rights activist, mother, wife, political campaigner, and friend. 
On January 9, 2009, Mary passed away at the age of 81. Mary was a 
fearless fighter during the civil rights movement and an active 
advocate for art throughout her life. She held a passion for politics 
and played instrumental roles in numerous political campaigns over the 
years. She was a real spark plug whose personal motto was ``Yes, we 
can!''
  Mary was born and raised in Trenton, New Jersey, where she developed 
a lifelong love of art. She went on to study at the Pennsylvania 
Academy of Fine Arts in Philadelphia and to teach art at George School 
in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. There she met her husband, Ross Green, a 
fellow teacher. Her first brush with politics came when she and Ross 
moved to Berkeley. Mary campaigned for the right of students to post 
political flyers on university bulletin boards. When she and her 
husband moved to Atlanta, she fought for civil rights alongside her 
friends, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Coretta Scott King, and Vernon 
Jordan. A notable story from Mary's life centers on a public meeting 
held in Atlanta to discuss voters' rights after the enactment of the 
1964 Civil Rights Act. Despite death threats and the hostile presence 
of the Ku Klux Klan at the meeting, Mary bravely spoke as scheduled, 
while many others backed out and retreated.
  Mary continued to play an active role in politics throughout her 
life. She served as the central California chair for Robert Kennedy's 
presidential campaign, the northern California co-chair for George 
McGovern in 1972, and worked on the presidential campaigns of Gary Hart 
in 1984 and 1988. Back in Monterey County, she promoted the arts. She 
helped raise funds to revitalize the Monterey Peninsula Museum of Art's 
La Mirada wing and took the lead in founding the Pacific Street 
branch's sculpture garden. Mary also helped produce two award-winning 
documentary films: Time Captured in Paintings: The Monterey Legacy and 
The Roots of California Photography: The Monterey Legacy.
  Madam Speaker, I know that I speak for the whole House in extending 
our deepest sympathies and condolences to Mary Green's daughter, Alice 
Green, son Mitchell Green, her three grandchildren, and many friends.

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