[Congressional Record Volume 159, Number 179 (Tuesday, December 17, 2013)]
[Senate]
[Pages S8909-S8910]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     REMEMBERING ELIZABETH DENEBEIM

 Mrs. BOXER. Mr. President, I ask my colleagues to join me in 
honoring the memory of Elizabeth ``Libby'' Denebeim, a pillar of the 
San Francisco community, who passed away on November 15, 2013. She was 
83 years old.
  Libby was born and raised in the Midwest and graduated from the 
University of Missouri, where she met the love of her life, Robert 
Denebeim. After getting married, Libby went on to obtain a master's 
degree in education and taught elementary school in Tampa, FL, while 
Robert completed his service in the U.S. Air Force.
  In 1956, the couple moved to the San Francisco Bay Area. Libby had 
always been dedicated to public service, and in San Francisco she 
became a leader in the community. She worked on behalf of so many 
agencies and organizations dedicated to improving education, mental 
health, the arts, and family services, including the San Francisco 
Board of Education; the San Francisco Mental Health Association; the 
Mayor's Advisory Council on Families, Children and Youth; the Mayor's 
Criminal Justice Council; San Francisco Head Start; and Jewish Family 
and Children's Services.

[[Page S8910]]

  Libby was also a fierce advocate for the LGBT community. She fought 
to end the definition of homosexuality as a ``mental illness'' and 
remove it from the National Psychiatric Association's Manual of Mental 
Disorders. She campaigned against California Proposition 6, the Briggs 
Initiative, which sought to ban gays and lesbians from working in 
California's public schools, and also served on the San Francisco 
Health Department's Committee on Services for People with AIDS, the 
Mayor's HIV Task Force, and the NAMES Project.
  Those lucky enough to know Libby recognized her as a vibrant, 
inspiring and generous woman who gave selflessly to her community. 
Through the years, she was honored by organizations ranging from the 
United Way to the Pacific Medical Center to the California State 
Legislature. Her contributions to the San Francisco Bay Area and beyond 
will be remembered fondly by everyone whose lives she touched. She will 
be deeply missed. I extend my heartfelt condolences to Libby's 
children, Robert, Nancy, David, William, Thomas, and Edward, and their 
spouses; her grandchildren, Daniel, Kathleen, Jack, Robert, Catherine, 
Allton, and Samuel; and her sisters-in-law, Beverley and Helene, 
brother-in-law Dart, their 13 children, and grandchildren.

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