[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 156 (2010), Part 4]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 5883]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                 HONORING THE LIFE OF MARY BUXTON WARD

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. RUSH D. HOLT

                             of new jersey

                    in the house of representatives

                        Tuesday, April 20, 2010

  Mr. HOLT. Madam Speaker, I rise to pay tribute to Mary Buxton Ward, a 
woman of valor and commitment who died on Tuesday, March 2nd in 
Princeton, New Jersey. She is mourned by her daughters, Shelley Rhodes 
and Heather Ward, her two grandsons, Justin and Shane Rhodes, and all 
who knew her and admired her life of service.
  After serving with the State Department in Libya, Panama and Hong 
Kong, Mary returned to the United States and eventually settled in 
Princeton in the 1960's. For 16 years she served as the Executive 
Director of the Princeton Art Association, before leaving to work with 
the Coalition for Nuclear Disarmament as Secretary and Assistant 
Director for six years. She retired in 2004 from the University Medical 
Center at Princeton after 20 years of service in various capacities.
  But it was for her role as a volunteer and activist that Mary Ward 
deserves to be remembered. Never one to sit back and watch, Mary made 
her presence and her ideals felt. She was arrested several times for 
demonstrating in support of civil rights, withdrawal from Vietnam, and 
nuclear disarmament. Her protest against nuclear testing at the Nevada 
Test Site in 1986 resulted in a 5-day jail sentence. She was never 
afraid to fight for what she believed was right.
  Mary Ward was a life-long advocate for justice. During her years in 
Princeton, she served on the boards of Nuclear Dialogue, Coalition for 
Peace Action, Federated Art Associations of New Jersey, Teamwork Dance, 
and as a volunteer member of the court-appointed Child Placement Review 
Board of Mercer County. She also volunteered with Centurion Ministries, 
an advocacy group for those unjustly imprisoned.
  Mary Ward was not a famous woman, but she was the kind of principled, 
committed citizen that makes America stronger. The world is a better 
place because of her.

                          ____________________