[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 11]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 15548]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                         HONORING MARIE STEWARD

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. MARK UDALL

                              of colorado

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, June 12, 2007

  Mr. UDALL of Colorado. Madam Speaker, I rise today to congratulate 
Mrs. Marie Steward, a recent recipient of the Adams County Democratic 
Party's 2007 Life-Time Achievement Award. I am pleased to recognize her 
service and the many contributions she has made to her community.
  Although her work in the Democratic Party has been a major part of 
her civic involvement, it is not her partisan work that I want to 
acknowledge so much as it is her long involvement in the civic life of 
Adams County. In fact, if there could be a ``Mrs. Adams County,'' it is 
Marie Steward. She is well known in Adams County through her 
involvement with her family, her neighborhood, organized labor and 
community activities.
  Marie was born the youngest of eleven children in Minor, Kansas to 
John and Lena O'Brien. Her family lost their farm during the Great 
Depression and moved to live with her Uncle Benjamin. Marie graduated 
from Brewster High School, and has fond memories from this time of 
taking the train to Denver and stopping at the historic Oxford Hotel. 
She later moved to Sand Point, Idaho after marrying Mike Steward, a 
young man serving in the Navy. When Mike was discharged from service in 
World War II, he worked as a machinist for Ringsby Trucking, a company 
that owned the basketball team that later became the Denver Nuggets--
and a team my father, Mo, used to play for. Mike and Marie were regular 
attendees at the games, and Marie was a key member of the Prospectors, 
a booster club for the team. She also volunteered at St. Vincent's Home 
for Orphans, where, thanks to Marie, no child ever went without a gift 
at Christmas.
  Marie became politically active in northern Denver when she 
volunteered with her colleagues, Eileen Ray and Dolores Dickman. In 
1954, the Stewards bought one of the first brick houses in Thornton, a 
new development project that was targeted for returning World War II 
soldiers and their families. Marie used skills learned in Denver 
politics and became a precinct committee person with her neighbor and 
long-time activist, Ed Lappart.
  For many years, Marie `ran' the Adams County Democratic Party 
Headquarters. She produced candidate literature and published the 
county newsletter, the GADFLY. Rumor has it that many Republicans would 
often drop by for a visit to see what Marie was serving volunteers for 
lunch. Marie made headquarters a fun place, and with her experience as 
a leader in the International Machinists Auxiliary, Marie served many 
meals and taught the basics of political participation.
  She was elected as a delegate to county, congressional, and state 
committees, assemblies and conventions. At a mini-convention in Kansas 
City, Marie once met and dined with a young man named Warren Beatty. He 
told people later that he liked to ``pal around'' with Marie because 
she treated him like she treated everyone--for Marie every person is a 
celebrity.
  Today, Marie's family includes her son Jim, who is retired from IBM/
Lexmark and shares Marie's Thornton home; her daughter Anita; her 
husband Gary McCulloch and their four daughters and grandchildren. Not 
to be forgotten is ``Cookie'' the family rat terrier, who Marie walks 
several times during the day.
  Madam Speaker, I ask my colleagues to join me in acknowledging Marie 
Steward for her involvement in public life and for her bipartisan 
interest in treating people well.
  She is an example of the heroic generation and an advocate of those 
values, like hard work and compassion for others, that represent the 
very best in politics--values that both Republicans and Democrats can 
celebrate together.

                          ____________________