[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 64 (Thursday, April 19, 2018)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2315-S2316]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        REMEMBERING MARILYN WARE

  Mr. GARDNER. Mr. President, Ambassador Ware was a true light of poise 
and patriotism, strength and dignity, her presence firm and her 
personality embracing, warm, and loving. Her politics she did well, but 
the policy achievements delivered through her politics and philanthropy 
will be her lasting legacy.
  Starting at the grassroots, she began her political career in 
Pennsylvania serving as a county chairperson eventually rising to chair 
Governor Tom Ridge's two successful gubernatorial campaigns. In 2002, 
President George Bush asked her to serve on the National Critical 
Infrastructure Advisory Council, a position she held until she was 
named the U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of Finland in 2005. She was 
an outstanding diplomat and a great representative of the United 
States.
  I recall telling Ambassador Ware about one of my favorite duties as a 
Member of Congress--the opportunity to call students to tell them they 
had received an appointment to a service academy. She smiled fondly as 
I told

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my story, and then she told me her own. As ambassador, she was deeply 
impressed with an officer in the U.S. military with whom she had been 
working. She asked if she could call the officer's parents to express, 
as ambassador, her gratitude and that of the Nation, for the 
outstanding work the officer had been doing. Ambassador Ware reached 
the officer's father. During the discussion, the father asked again 
what the ambassador's name was and if Marilyn was the daughter of 
Congressman John Ware. Ambassador Ware replied yes. The father went on 
to explain how it was Congressman Ware who had given his son his 
academy nomination many years before. Her story highlighted the full 
circle of a family committed to public service--a cherished trait that 
continues in her family today.
  There are so many causes that Ambassador Ware championed, so many to 
talk about: AEI, her work with sustainable clean water, caring for 
children with learning disabilities at the Janus School, and the Clinic 
for Special Children, and of course, The Phoenix, which you can't think 
about without seeing that twinkle in her eye, along with countless 
others.
  She made our country a better, stronger place. Ambassador Ware will 
not only be remembered by her friends and family but by those whose 
lives she bettered along the way. I will miss her leadership and 
guidance and will always remember the amazing work Ambassador Ware did 
for our community and our country.
  Ambassador Ware, and to her family, we are forever grateful.

                          ____________________