[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 197 (Thursday, November 19, 2020)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1056]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      HONORING JOAN HARDIE MUNFORD

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. H. MORGAN GRIFFITH

                              of virginia

                    in the house of representatives

                      Thursday, November 19, 2020

  Mr. GRIFFITH. Madam Speaker, I rise in honor of Joan Hardie Munford, 
who passed away on November 11, 2020. Mrs. Munford was a businesswoman 
and represented parts of the New River Valley in the Virginia House of 
Delegates, where she was a legislator of accomplishment.
  Joan Hardie was born on October 25, 1933, in Blacksburg, Virginia to 
John D. Hardie and Hester Price Hardie. Her family owned businesses 
including the popular Hardie House restaurant in the area. She attended 
Blacksburg High School, where she met her eventual husband Thomas 
William Munford Jr., and graduated in 1951. She then attended Radford 
College, now Radford University, and earned a degree in Education.
  Mrs. Munford embarked on a business career, participating in the 
founding of a property and nursing home development corporation in the 
early 1970s. She worked as a licensed nursing home administrator for 
Heritage Hall in Blacksburg, and it became a chain with seventeen 
nursing homes across Virginia. She eventually rose to the position of 
Vice President of Operations.
  In 1981, Mrs. Munford was elected to the Virginia House of Delegates 
representing the Thirteenth District and become one of the few women in 
the General Assembly. In the House, she served on the Corporations, 
Insurance, and Banking, Labor and Commerce, and Education Committees. 
She was an accomplished legislator involved in passing laws regarding 
education, child labor, and workplace regulation among other topics. By 
the time she retired from the House of Delegates in 1993, she had risen 
to chair of the Labor and Commerce Committee.
  Retiring from the House of Delegates did not end Mrs. Munford's 
community service, as she served on the Board of Directors for First 
National Bank of Christiansburg and the Carilion New River Valley 
Medical Center and as a member of the first planning committee for 
Virginia Tech's Choices and Challenges Forum Series. She was an active 
member of Blacksburg Presbyterian Church and loved music, especially 
playing the piano, throughout her life.
  Mrs. Munford is survived by her daughter and son-in-law, Mary and 
David Harder; her grandsons, James Harder and Benjamin Harder and his 
wife, Jacquelyn Harder; and great-grandchildren, Cole and Airlie 
Harder. I offer my condolences to them on the loss of this community 
servant and advocate.

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