[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 190 (Tuesday, December 15, 2009)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E3001]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




        HONORING DONNA COOK FREEMAN OF SONOMA COUNTY, CALIFORNIA

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. MIKE THOMPSON

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, December 15, 2009

  Mr. THOMPSON of California. Madam Speaker, I rise today with my 
colleague Rep. Mike Thompson to honor the memory of Donna Cook Freeman 
of Bodega Bay in my district, an energetic community activist whose 
petite frame exuded a feisty kind of determination combined with warmth 
and humor that earned friends, political power and a long list of 
accomplishments.
  Donna came to Bodega Bay a half century ago as a young, poor and 
pregnant fisherman's wife with two small children in tow. She left 
Bodega Bay and this earthly plain on October 30, 2009 after two weeks 
of farewell visits from at least 150 friends. She was 72.
  Donna Cook Freeman became involved in local politics in the early 60s 
in one of the earliest environmental battles of the modern era, the 
fight over the planned construction of a nuclear power plant at Bodega 
Head. Donna and several other ``ordinary'' townspeople and their 
friends took on the giant utility, and ultimately won after they 
exposed the danger of building the plant directly on the San Andreas 
Fault.
  Remaining active in coastal issues, she served on the California 
Coastal Commission's advisory board for the county's coastal plan. She 
campaigned for a local assessment to provide paramedics for the Bodega 
Bay Fire Protection District. Later she served three terms as a 
director of the Fire District. She was also a founder of the Bodega Bay 
Fishermen's Festival, and served as president and a director of the 
Bodega Bay Chamber of Commerce, and for a decade she served on the 
board of the Sonoma County Fair. She successfully fought for new port 
facilities for commercial and recreational fishermen that became Spud 
Point Marina.
  She also created a special place in a scrub filled ravine at the foot 
of Bodega Head. She filled it with cool ferns, waving trees, rippling 
ponds, narrow foot bridges and a gazebo she salvaged from the set of 
Alfred Hitchcock's Bodega Bay-based classic film, ``The Birds.'' She 
called this sheltered refuge ``Compass Rose Garden,'' named both for 
the center of a compass and her mother. She raised her family in a 
cottage in the garden, and turned its verdant grounds into a place for 
weddings, family events, community celebrations and political fund 
raisers that both advertised and expanded her political influence.
  She served on the Democratic State Central Committee, and her 
endorsement was gold to numerous political candidates courting west 
Sonoma County votes. She served a vital role in ushering in progressive 
politics to the county when she successfully managed the campaign of 
former Sonoma County Supervisor Ernie Carpenter.
  Last month she was diagnosed with advanced liver cancer and as her 
life ebbed away, she made plans for a final celebration at Compass Rose 
Garden. It was not to be. Yet she leaves a legacy of progress, a legion 
of friends and a loving family that includes her husband, Clarence 
Freeman, her two daughters Melinda McLees and Melissa Freeman; three 
sons, Scott Freeman, Kevin Freeman and Steve Freeman; and their 
families which include seven grandchildren; as well as her brother 
James Cook and a sister Dorothy Cook Hewett, and their families.
  Madam Speaker, Donna Cook Freeman brought creativity, vibrancy and 
determination to every endeavor she took on. She led by her powers of 
persuasion and her personal magnetism. She was born in the Depression, 
but was guided through her life by her joyous sense of possibility. 
When the boats are blessed at the next Bodega Bay Fishermen's Festival, 
we will think of her and recall a spirit that could rise above the 
waves.

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