[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 129 (Tuesday, July 31, 2018)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5512-S5513]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    REMEMBERING MARYON PITTMAN ALLEN

  Mr. JONES. Mr. President, I would like to take a few moments to 
remember and honor Maryon Pittman Allen, a former Member of this body, 
who passed away on July 23, 2018. Maryon Allen was one of only two 
women ever to represent the State of Alabama in the U.S. Senate.
  Born in Meridian, MS, in 1925, Maryon Pittman and her family moved to 
Alabama in 1926 in order for her father to open a Caterpillar tractor 
franchise. She grew up in Birmingham, attending Avondale School and 
Ramsay High School, before matriculating at the University of Alabama, 
where she planned to major in journalism. While in college, she met and 
married her first husband, attorney Joshua Mullins, and they had three 
children. After the marriage ended in divorce in 1959, Maryon entered 
the workforce, first as a secretary, then in insurance sales, and 
eventually putting her journalism training to use writing for the 
``Shades Valley Sun'' as society editor.
  In the 1960s, Maryon joined the Birmingham News as women's editor. 
Two weeks into her new job, she drove to Montgomery to interview then-
Lieutenant Governor James B. Allen in

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connection with a speech he had delivered to the Alabama Federation of 
Women's Clubs. She and Allen, a widower with two children, were 
instantly attracted to each other and married in August 1964, after a 
whirlwind, 4-month courtship.
  When Alabama Senator Lister Hill chose not to seek reelection to the 
U.S. Senate in 1968, Jim Allen sought and won election to his seat. In 
January of 1969, Maryon and Jim moved to Washington, D.C., as Jim began 
his term in the 91st Congress. From Washington, Maryon began writing a 
new column called Reflections of a News Hen, which was regionally 
syndicated in several southeastern newspapers and won Alabama Press 
Association awards for ``best original column.'' She also served as 
chair of the Blair House Fine Arts Commission in 1974, appointed to the 
position by President Gerald Ford.
  Jim Allen died suddenly, of a heart attack, on June 1, 1978. One week 
later, Alabama Governor George Wallace appointed Maryon to fill her 
husband's seat until the special election, which was scheduled to take 
place in November. Mrs. Allen pledged to ``continue to espouse the 
great principles of government to which Senator Allen dedicated his 
life. When I cast a vote on the floor of the U.S. Senate, it will 
reflect the philosophy he expressed so eloquently and strongly during 
his almost 10 years of service.''
  Mrs. Allen served 5 months in the Senate. She was the first woman to 
serve on the Judiciary Committee, and she presided over the Senate on 
several occasions, but even as a Senator, she stayed true to her roots 
and continued writing her ``Reflections'' newspaper column.
  Shortly after Mrs. Allen left the Senate in 1978, Washington Post 
editor-in-chief Ben Bradlee invited her to write a weekly social column 
about life and events inside the Beltway. Until 1981, Allen remained in 
Washington, writing ``Maryon Allen's Washington'' and entertaining Post 
readers with her trademark wit and style. Eventually, however, Maryon 
returned to Birmingham to be near her family and friends. Back home, 
she began yet another career as one of America's finest restorers of 
antique wedding dresses, christening gowns, and other heirloom 
textiles, using skills she had learned from her grandmother. Allen and 
her extraordinary artistry were featured in several national magazines.
  My wife, Louise, and I wish to extend our gratitude for Mrs. Allen's 
service, as well as our condolences for her loss to her children Joshua 
Sanford Mullins, III, and his wife Eugenia; John Pittman Mullins and 
his wife, Alison; and Maryon Allen Allen, widow of the late Stephen 
Allen; to her stepson James Browning Allen, Jr., and to her six 
grandchildren, and four great-grandchildren.
  Maryon Allen was independent, intelligent, and charismatic, with a 
self-described ``penchant for being irreverent.'' She faced life's 
challenges fearlessly, refusing to be defeated by adversity. She can 
now rest in peace after a life well-lived.

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