[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 195 (Saturday, December 17, 2011)]
[Senate]
[Pages S8762-S8763]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       TRIBUTE TO MARY MIDDLETON

  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I rise to pay tribute to a woman who 
was a dear friend of mine, now sadly departed, who was deeply committed 
to serving her community in northern Kentucky, and who left everything 
she touched a little better off than it was before she found it. I'm 
speaking of Mrs. Mary Middleton of Fort Mitchell, KY, who tragically 
died in an accident on November 22, 2011. She was 83 years old.
  I know northern Kentucky would not be the same if not for the 
timeless dedication of Mary and her family over more than five decades. 
A community leader, philanthropist, lifelong adventurer and supporter 
of public service, Mary Middleton's loss is a great loss for the people 
of Kenton County and the entire Commonwealth of Kentucky.
  Mary grew up in Wisconsin, although there's no doubt that after more 
than 50 years Kentucky was her home. As a young woman she was keen on 
traveling the world. Also a frugal woman, she attempted to do so on ten 
dollars a day. Somewhere in France she ran out of money and had to 
telegraph her father to send her some more.
  Mary also went to work for the YWCA as a way to travel and have 
someone other than her father foot the bill. On a YWCA assignment in 
Hawaii, she met a young Naval officer named Clyde Middleton. The couple 
married, and when Clyde was transferred to Cincinnati by his employer 
Procter & Gamble, eventually settled in northern Kentucky.
  ``They got off the airplane and saw all the beautiful trees and said 
this is where we want to live,'' says their son, John Middleton, who is 
the Kenton County circuit court clerk. ``And northern Kentucky is a 
much better place because she was here.''
  Mary was determined to make her mark early. In the 1950s, she ran for 
a Kentucky State House seat as a Republican, at a time in Kentucky when 
it was impossible to be elected unless you were a man and a Democrat. 
Thankfully, times have changed on both counts.
  Mary did not succeed in that race, but she didn't let that stop her 
from having an influence. In 1960, she founded the Kenton County 
Republican Women's Club, an organization that is still one of the 
strongest and most active of its type in the State. And Mary continued 
to be involved with the club until her passing.
  Mary also played a critical role in supporting her husband Clyde's 
political career during his two decades of public service in the 
Kentucky legislature and as Kenton County judge- executive. And as I 
already mentioned, her son John is currently the Kenton County circuit 
court clerk. Public service runs in the Middleton family.
  So has compassion for those who are less fortunate. Mary showed that 
compassion in so many ways--through her volunteer work with the 
Salvation Army, the Red Cross, Church Women United, and her home church 
of Gloria Dei Lutheran. Somehow she also found time to dedicate to the 
Covington Optimist Club and the Florence Woman's Club, as well as the 
Kenton County Republican Women's Club she founded.
  The day before she died, Mary drove a cancer patient to treatment at 
St. Elizabeth Hospital, something she and Clyde had done for years. 
Mary was a teacher at the McMillan Center Alternative School. The 
Cincinnati Enquirer honored her in 1981 as a Woman of the Year.
  This Christmas season, as Kentuckians flock to the shopping malls and 
stores, they will walk by the familiar Salvation Army red kettle and 
hear the bell. Sadly, one bell ringer who will be missing is Mary 
Middleton.
  It's a testament to the effect she had on others that, within days of 
her death, dozens of volunteers in Kenton County stepped forward to 
fill the hole she left behind and ring that bell.
  Elaine and I are profoundly saddened by the loss of Mary Middleton, 
and our deepest condolences go to her family: her husband, Clyde; her 
sons, John, David, and Richard; her daughter, Ann Schmidt; her eight 
grandchildren, and many other beloved family members and friends.
  Mr. President, I know my colleagues here in the U.S. Senate join me 
in honoring Mrs. Mary Middleton, mourning her loss, and wishing for 
comfort for her family. The Cincinnati Enquirer recently published an 
article celebrating Mary's life. I ask be unanimous consent that it be 
printed in the Record.
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

             [From the Cincinnati Enquirer, Nov. 23, 2011]

   Northern Kentucky Matriarch Mary Middleton Killed by Garbage Truck


 Mary Was An Organizer, A Leader, And An Inspiration To Anyone Who Met 
                                  Her

                          (By Brenna R. Kelly)

       Fort Mitchell.--No one was a stranger to Mary Middleton. 
     Whether it was the people donating money as she rang the bell 
     for the Salvation Army, the cancer patients she drove to 
     treatment or the new family who moved onto her street--she 
     cared.
       Middleton, who was the first northern Kentucky Republican 
     woman to run for office and later became a well-known 
     philanthropist, was hit and killed by a garbage

[[Page S8763]]

     truck Tuesday morning in front of the Fort Mitchell Avenue 
     home where she lived for 52 years. She was 83. ``She loved 
     making people feel good,'' said her son John Middleton, 
     Kenton Circuit Court Clerk. ``I think that's what's going to 
     be the loss, not just for us, but for the whole northern 
     Kentucky community.''
       It was raining Tuesday morning about 10:20 a.m. when Mary 
     Middleton apparently took a bag of garbage out to a Bavarian 
     garbage truck on her street. Police were still investigating 
     how the accident occurred, but the truck hit Middleton in the 
     street.
       Emergency responders called for a medical helicopter but it 
     was unable to respond because of the weather. Middleton died 
     at the scene. The driver of the truck was taken to St. 
     Elizabeth Hospital to be tested for drugs or alcohol, which 
     is routine after a fatal accident involving a commercial 
     truck, said Fort Mitchell Police Chief Jeff Eldridge.
       The driver, John Boaz, has worked for the company for 15 
     years, said Bavarian spokesman Rick Bruggemann. ``Our deepest 
     condolences and prayers go out to the family,'' Bruggemann 
     said. Boaz, who has an excellent safety record, was 
     devastated, he said.
       Accident reconstruction experts from Erlanger Police and 
     the Boone County Sheriff's Office are helping Fort Mitchell 
     investigate the accident.
       Middleton's husband, former Kenton County Judge-Executive 
     Clyde Middleton, was at home when his wife was hit. He called 
     John Middleton at work and word quickly spread across 
     northern Kentucky Republican circles. As Mary Middleton's 
     body lay in the street covered by a sheet and shielded by 
     yellow tarps, family and friends began gathering at the red 
     brick home near the Fort Mitchell Country Club.
       One of those friends, Shawn Baker, rushed to the home to be 
     with the family.
       ``I admired Mary more than any person I know,'' said Baker, 
     of Crestview Hills, who was in the Kenton County Republican 
     Women's Club and several other groups with Middleton. ``She 
     had so much class. Mary was an organizer, a leader, and an 
     inspiration to anyone who met her.''
       Though she was better known as a political wife, it was 
     Mary who made the family's first foray into politics. In the 
     late 1950s she ran for state representative at a time when 
     the area elected men and Democrats, said family friend and 
     Kenton County Republican activist Rick Robinson.
       She then supported her husband through his two decades in 
     the Kentucky Senate and more than seven years in Kenton 
     County's top job before he resigned in 1998 after a 
     controversy involving the awarding of a courthouse 
     construction bid.
       ``She was the perfect political wife too, she pushed Dad to 
     do the things and to be nice to people when maybe he didn't 
     want to be nice,'' John Middleton said.
       Mary Middleton grew up in Wisconsin but was adventurous and 
     left to travel the world. After trying to see the world on 
     $10 a day, she ran out of money in France and had to 
     telegraph her father for money, her son said.
       She went to work for the YWCA, which sent her to work in 
     Hawaii where she met Clyde, a Naval officer. She followed him 
     to Japan and the couple married.
       Eventually, Clyde Middleton ended up working for Procter & 
     Gamble in Chicago. When he was transferred to Cincinnati, the 
     Middletons settled in northern Kentucky.
       ``They got off the airplane and saw all the beautiful trees 
     and said this is where we want to live,'' John Middleton 
     said. ``And northern Kentucky is a much better place because 
     she was here.''
       In addition to the Salvation Army, she volunteered for the 
     Red Cross, Church Women United, Kentucky Symphony and at her 
     church, Gloria Dei Lutheran. She was also active in the 
     Covington Optimist Club, the Florence Woman's Club and Kenton 
     County Republican Women's Club, which she founded 51 one 
     years ago.
       In 1981, she was honored by the Enquirer as a Woman of the 
     Year. She was also a teacher at the McMillan Center 
     Alternative School.
       ``She was everybody's mother,'' said Kenton County Sheriff 
     Chuck Korzenborn, a Republican who counted Middleton as one 
     of his first supporters when he ran for sheriff. ``She was a 
     person who had only one thing on her mind, what was good for 
     the community and the people in it.''
       ``Mary's fine, she's with her maker and with the Lord. 
     She's fine, but the people down here are going to miss her 
     very, very much.''
       On Monday, Mary Middleton drove a cancer patient for 
     treatment at St. Elizabeth Hospital, something that she and 
     her husband had done for years. On Tuesday, she was planning 
     her regular visit to a nursing home, where she sat with 
     friends and strangers alike.
       ``She was truly a humble servant,'' said Becky Sittason, 
     whose grandmother Middleton was planning to visit. ``She 
     doesn't have to flaunt it or say `here is who I helped.' ''
       Sittason, who has known Middleton since she was 6, only 
     found out she volunteered as a bell ringer when she read it 
     last year in the newspaper.
       Of all the organizations she was involved in, the Salvation 
     Army was special to Middleton, said both Baker and her son. 
     She helped organize the charity's annual fashion show and 
     would line up volunteers to ring the bell along with her.
       ``She would never ask anyone to do something that she 
     wouldn't do herself,'' Baker said.
       Middleton rang the bell for more than 20 years and 
     recruited her entire family for shifts at local stores.
       ``It just makes your Christmas to know you've done a little 
     something for other people,'' she told the Enquirer last 
     year.
       In addition to her husband and son John, of Edgewood, she 
     is survived by her sons David, of Lexington; Richard, of 
     Independence; daughter Ann Schmidt, of Orlando; and eight 
     grandchildren.
       ``Each one of the children could say that they felt 
     special,'' John Middleton said, ``and they were her favorite; 
     that's because she made you feel that way.''
       ``She always went out of her way to do what's right and to 
     make everybody feel the best about themselves,'' he said.
       When she died Tuesday, there was a note on her desk she had 
     just written welcoming a family that had recently moved onto 
     the street.
       ``She didn't know who they were,'' her son said, ``but she 
     wanted to make them feel welcomed. People don't do that as 
     much now days, but she did.''
       Funeral arrangements are pending with Linnemann Funeral 
     Homes.

  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Ms. LANDRIEU. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

                          ____________________