WASHINGTON—U.S. Senator Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) on Wednesday spoke on the U.S. Senate floor to remember his friend and mentor, Margaret Miner, and honor her contributions as a renowned philanthropist, author, and environmental advocate.

“I first met Margaret as soon as I finished college,” Murphy recalled. “I went to work for a longshot Congressional candidate who happened to be personal friends with Margaret and Hugh. And Margaret and Hugh were also, at the time, pretty adept local political activists in Litchfield County. There were no two people who worked harder for that longshot candidate, their friend, than Margaret and Hugh. They raised money, they knocked on doors, they put up lawn signs, whatever their friend needed, whatever their friend's 22-year-old campaign manager needed.”

Murphy highlighted Margaret’s impact as an advocate and as a mentor in the local community: “She single-handedly made her organization, Rivers Alliance, which she led for 18 years, a force to be reckoned with in Hartford. Under her leadership, Rivers Alliance became a force in Connecticut politics. Her team fought for, and successfully helped to pass, state laws to create a statewide water plan to protect stream flow in water courses, to ban the water contaminant MTBE in gasoline, to protect funding for the Connecticut Council of Environmental Quality, and to retore and protect state funding for the U.S. Geologic Survey. That's just the tip of the iceberg in terms of what Margaret did, in terms of what Margaret and the people that she mentored produced in Hartford.”

He continued: “But her work was always about something bigger than herself, or even her organization, Rivers Alliance. She was really dedicated to building a movement around water quality, around water health, around the environment. She helped teach people all across the state how to advocate for themselves, how to advocate for the causes that they mutually cared about. She was an organizer of people at heart, encouraging countless individuals all around the state and all around the country to join the causes that she cared about. And she was just good at it. There were [few] people that were more inspiring or convincing than Margaret was. Now, Margaret wasn't a big, boisterous, loud personality. But she was sincere, she was genuine, and she never, ever gave up. Her persistence was her calling card.”

“Margaret Miner was an original. As her friend, I’ll remember her wit, her political savvy, her boundless heart. And on a personal note, I wouldn't be here if not for Margaret and Hugh. When I decided to run for Congress ten years after first meeting Margaret, she was, not surprisingly, one of my first calls. I planned the early stages of my first campaign at Margaret and Hugh's kitchen table, in their cute house in Roxbury, Connecticut. That’s how important she was to me, and I'm one of hundreds in Connecticut who can say Margaret Miner was one of the most important people in my life,” Murphy concluded.

A full transcript of Murphy’s remarks can be found below:

“I come to the floor this afternoon to talk about a great friend of mine, Margaret Miner. My friend Margaret Miner died last week. I'm really sad about it. Her family, her friends, are really sad about it. Because she was a great friend. She was warm and she was generous. Because she was funny, she was kind. Because she made a lot of other people's lives better. But I'm also sad because Margaret was one of a kind. She was a true Renaissance woman. She was a polymath. She was voracious about intaking the world and about giving back to it.

“I’ve never met anybody like her, I'll never meet anybody like her again. I'll never see a partnership like the one she had with her late husband Hugh Rawson. Her legacy lives on but there's just no doubt that the mold was broken in two when they made Margaret Miner. She was born in New York City in 1938. Her parents, Tony and Frances, were in show business, which kind of makes sense if you know her but kind of doesn't. In 1984, she moved from Brooklyn to Roxbury, Connecticut. Roxbury is a small town, quintessential New England village in northwest Connecticut. There she became a fixture in the community. She began her life's work of fighting to protect the natural beauty of this state that she called home for the next 40 years.

“I first met Margaret as soon as I finished college. I went to work for a longshot Congressional candidate who happened to be personal friends with Margaret and Hugh. And Margaret and Hugh were also, at the time, pretty adept local political activists in Litchfield County. There were no two people who worked harder for that longshot candidate, their friend, than Margaret and Hugh. They raised money, they knocked on doors, they put up lawn signs, whatever their friend needed, whatever their friend's 22-year-old campaign manager needed.

“She and Hugh were selfless. I saw that up close. I saw what a good friend Margaret could be. Then, a few years later when I was elected to the state legislature, I got to know Margaret as an advocate. She was, in those legislative halls in Hartford, Connecticut, nearly every single day fighting for her cause, the cause of clean water and a healthy environment.

“She single-handedly made her organization, Rivers Alliance, which she led for 18 years, a force to be reckoned with in Hartford. Under her leadership, Rivers Alliance became a force in Connecticut politics. Her team fought for, and successfully helped to pass, state laws to create a statewide water plan to protect stream flow in water courses, to ban the water contaminant MTBE in gasoline, to protect funding for the Connecticut Council of Environmental Quality, and to retore and protect state funding for the U.S. Geologic Survey. That's just the tip of the iceberg in terms of what Margaret did, in terms of what Margaret and the people that she mentored produced in Hartford.

“But her work was always about something bigger than herself, or even her organization, Rivers Alliance. She was really dedicated to building a movement around water quality, around water health, around the environment. She helped teach people all across the state how to advocate for themselves, how to advocate for the causes that they mutually cared about. She was an organizer of people at heart, encouraging countless individuals all around the state and all around the country to join the causes that she cared about. And she was just good at it. There were few people that were more inspiring or convincing than Margaret was. Now, Margaret wasn't a big, boisterous, loud personality. But she was sincere, she was genuine, and she never, ever gave up. Her persistence was her calling card.

“Her unrelenting advocacy did not go unrecognized or unnoticed. She received countless awards for her work during her lifetime. She received the first Champion of Water Award from the Connecticut Water Policy Council. She received the Clyde O. Fisher Award for environmental achievement from the Connecticut Bar Association. She was the first recipient of the Marc J. Taylor Environmental Stewardship Award, the Rockfall Foundation's Tom O'Dell Distinguished Service Award. In 2016, I nominated her for the EPA's prestigious lifetime merit award. People knew what she had done in Connecticut. And so good for Connecticut that we didn't have to wait for Margaret's passing before singling her out for her seminal achievements in the area of environmental protection.

“But what made Margaret so compelling, what made Margaret so amazing, was that in addition to being a great friend, in addition to leading one of the state's preeminent environmental organizations, she was incredibly accomplished in so many other fields. The rest of her life, when you say it out loud, in addition to all of that achievement, it kind of almost sounds implausible.

“For instance, in her free time, Margaret was a nationally known and celebrated author. Not about the environment but about the history of quotable people. She was the co-author of five dictionaries of quotations, including the Oxford Dictionary of American quotations with her husband Hugh. In her spare time, she wrote five anthologies of quotations, five books. She helped found an organization called Our Towns for Sar-e-Pol, a humanitarian effort through the not-for-profit Save the Children to help women and children in Sar-e-Pol, Afghanistan. She was an international philanthropist, and author, and an environmental advocate.

“She wrote a consumer reports book on allergies. I didn't even know that until I read the story of Margaret's life. She was an active member of the Roxbury Democratic Town Committee, and just before she passed at 86 years old, she was still serving on the local zoning board of appeals. She was learning Spanish in her 80's, attending two Spanish classes weekly. And as often as she could, she was playing poker, fleecing her friends of their money whenever possible.

“Margaret Miner was an original. As her friend, I’ll remember her wit, her political savvy, her boundless heart. And on a personal note, I wouldn't be here if not for Margaret and Hugh. When I decided to run for Congress ten years after first meeting Margaret, she was, not surprisingly, one of my first calls. I planned the early stages of my first campaign at Margaret and Hugh's kitchen table, in their cute house in Roxbury, Connecticut. That’s how important she was to me, and I'm one of hundreds in Connecticut who can say Margaret Miner was one of the most important people in my life. I yield the floor.”

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