[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 152 (2006), Part 17]
[Senate]
[Pages 22339-22340]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                          HONORING MARY ARNOLD

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, in life we all have changes. They are so 
difficult to accept. In the last month or so, I have had a lot of 
changes in my life. One of the changes that has been so troubling for 
me is that we have lost a friend in the Senate. Ralph Waldo Emerson 
said:

       Sorrow makes us all children again. [It] destroys all 
     differences of intellect. The wisest know nothing.

  The family member we have lost is Mary Arnold. She was such a 
wonderful, pleasant, thoughtful, kind person. Anyone would recognize 
her even though they wouldn't know her by name, simply because of her 
description--beautiful white hair, elegantly dressed every day, a 
wonderful smile. She never drew attention to herself, but she was so 
good for the institution. She sat right back here every day we were in 
session.
  She was the best when things weren't going so well. She was here for 
more than two decades. She was the best when things were real 
tumultuous here on the floor. If somebody wanted an easel for a chart, 
that was available. She directed the pages as to what they were 
supposed to do and not do. She always did it with such a pleasantness.
  I first met Mary Arnold when her daughter worked here. She was a 
Republican floor person. She, like her

[[Page 22340]]

mom, had this great, disarming smile. I was not in the city when the 
funeral took place and was unable to attend, but I saw in the program a 
picture of the deceased Mary Arnold. She looked exactly like her 
daughter. Exactly. She could have passed for her daughter.
  She came to Washington over 40 years ago. Born in the late 1930s in 
Jonesboro, Arkansas, she attended Memphis State University. She worked 
as a flight attendant--a stewardess, as they used to be called. All the 
stewards and stewardesses are very attractive people, but in the old 
days that was a requirement. Stewardesses had to look real good; Mary 
Arnold looked real good. I am sure she was a great flight attendant, a 
stewardess.
  She worked for a number of Members of Congress, including Congressman 
Harvey of Indiana and Representative Zion. She worked for the Sergeant 
at Arms, of course.
  She was a wonderful person. I had conversations with her. She loved 
animals, especially the ugly little dogs people fall in love with, 
Boston terriers. She was in love with her Boston terriers. She was a 
wonderful person. Coming to the Senate today and not having Mary back 
there is a tremendous loss to me and to the Senate. I want her 
wonderful daughter Mary Elizabeth to know she will be missed. Her 
spirit is something all in the Senate should have a little bit of. My 
thoughts are with Mary wherever she might be and my love and respect 
for her family is paramount as a result of the wonderful person she 
was.
  Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, as the Democratic leader has so eloquently 
described, it is hard to imagine the smiles and the charm of Mary 
Miller Arnold will no longer grace the Senate.
  I have had the opportunity to talk to her daughter Mary Elizabeth 
several times since her mom's demise. The love and the respect, that 
bond a mother and a daughter together share, is magnificent; it 
sparkles so much in her voice today.
  Mary was a fellow Tennessean. She will be remembered most for her 
uncanny ability to very efficiently enforce the Senate rules at this 
door, without sacrificing at any point in time her unfailing, 
consistent professionalism, her dedication, her polite demeanor.
  The Senate simply could not function, we all know, without our staff 
and committed staff. We 100 Senators are, for the most part, the face 
of the Senate, but it is people such as Mary who are here, day after 
day, the cogs in the wheels behind it, who keep this Senate moving 
along, keep it ticking.
  She was the pulse of the Senate, in many ways. To Mary's friends and 
to her family, let me say, our thoughts and prayers are with you during 
these difficult days ahead. To quote Senator Byrd from the other day, 
she was ``one of a kind.''
  She had a tangible presence in the Senate. We are lesser now with the 
loss of her southern grace.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Illinois.
  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I join with the majority leader and the 
Democratic leader in a tribute to Mary Miller Arnold who served us so 
well in the Senate and recently passed away. We join in expressing our 
condolences to Mary Arnold's family, her husband Ed, her son Edwin, 
Jr., and her daughter Mary Elizabeth.
  Her sudden and unexpected death comes as a shock to all of us as we 
return to the Senate Chamber expecting to see her smiling face as we 
have for so many years. I am so used to seeing her sitting near the 
door on the bench where the Democratic staffers sit. What an impression 
she made every single day I saw her. Perfect posture, impeccably 
dressed, every hair in place, always gracious, always professional, 
carried herself with such dignity and grace.
  Those who watch C-SPAN across America will know her instantly because 
she was part of the Senate process, part of the Senate family. She sat 
just as straight, just as polished, even before the C-SPAN cameras. She 
did this because of the respect she had for the Senate and for her 
role, which was very important. She loved the Senate and everything it 
stood for. She considered it a privilege to work in the U.S. Capitol, 
as we all do, and especially on the Senate floor.
  I didn't know until the other day that Mary actually began working 
for a Republican Congressman from Illinois, Roger Zion. She moved to 
Washington in 1960 with her husband Ed, who had taken a job with a 
congressman from Indiana. Her daughter Mary Elizabeth worked in the 
Republican cloakroom for several years while she was a law student. As 
for Mary's own political affiliation, I don't have any idea. She was a 
true professional. It is to her credit that she was in service to the 
Democratic side of the aisle but had equal respect for both sides of 
the aisle. She was beyond partisanship. She really was a part of the 
whole Senate family. She treated everyone with such respect and 
professionalism, so gracious to junior staffers and pages and Senators 
alike.
  She performed so many countless acts of kindness in the 21 years she 
served here. People are now speaking out about those and I am glad they 
shared some of them. If a coworker needed a kind word, Mary was one of 
the first. Once a coworker had a financial difficulty. Mary found out 
about it and lent that person some money, then gently refused to accept 
full repayment. She was such a good and generous person. Mary will be 
missed.
  I yield the floor.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The minority leader.

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