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“IN MEMORY OF MEG DONOVAN” mentioning the U.S. Dept of State was published in the Senate section on pages S11800-S11801 on Oct. 7, 1998.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
IN MEMORY OF MEG DONOVAN
Mr. KERRY. Mr. President, last Thursday, Meg Donovan, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Legislative Affairs, passed away after a painful struggle with cancer. Her death, far too early at age 47, has dimmed the light for all those who loved and knew her: her husband, Stephen Duffy, her three children Colin, Liam and Emma, her father, Daniel Donovan, her sisters, Paula and Mary Ellen, her brother, Patrick, and her many friends and colleagues in Washington.
Meg was a Washington veteran, having worked in the nongovernmental affair community for the National Conference on Soviet Jewry, in the Congress for nearly twenty years, and most recently in the Department of State. Through all those years she has consistently been an advocate for the downtrodden, for those who live in countries where the basic human rights and freedoms which we take for granted are denied. They could have had no better champion than Meg Donovan.
Meg was invaluable to me and my staff during the years that I served as Chairman of the International Operations Subcommittee, which had jurisdiction over the authorization bill for the State Department, USIA and the international broadcasting agencies. When we needed information, she ensured that we got it. She was an articulate advocate for the Administration's positions and an effective deal maker when the time was right. And as Secretary of State Albright, former Secretary of State Christopher, and all those who have been confirmed as Ambassadors during the Clinton Administration's tenure will tell you, Meg Donovan knew better than anyone how to help a nominee navigate the shoals of the confirmation process in the Senate.
On Saturday, Secretary Albright delivered the eulogy at Meg's funeral. Her heartfelt words aptly captured the many sides of Meg Donovan--a devoted wife and mother, a dedicated and passionate government servant, and a woman whose zest for life was boundless.
Mr. President, I would like to take this opportunity to extend my sincere sympathies to Meg's family. I also ask that Secretary Albright's eulogy for Meg be printed in the Record.
Eulogy for Meg Donovan
By Secretary of State Madeleine Albright
Father D'Silva; Duffy, Colin, Emma, Liam, Mr. Daniel Donovan, Patrick, Paula, Mary Ellen, and other members of Meg Donovan's family; colleagues, friends and acquaintances of Meg:
There are times when it seems more fitting just to stammer with emotion than to speak with finely turned phrases.
It does not seem fair; it is not fair that Heaven, which already has so much, now has so much more. And that we here on Earth, who need so much, have lost someone who is irreplaceable in our hearts.
This we know. Meg could not pass from one world to the other without changing both.
We are crushed with grief. But the scriptures say that those who mourn are blessed for they shall be comforted; and we are comforted by the knowledge that, somewhere up above, God is getting an earful on human rights.
I did not become acquainted with Meg Donovan until I went to the State Department in 1993. Like her, I was a mother of three, including twins. I felt I understood better than some others might the choices and challenges she faced. But many of you knew her longer and more intimately than I. I cannot capture her personality or her career in full.
To me, if there is one word that sums up Meg, it is
``completeness.''
There are others in this town who are smart and good at their jobs; others with a commitment to causes that are right and just; others who bargain shrewdly and hard; others with a warm and wonderful sense of humor; others who understand the obligations of friendship; others who are devoted and loving to their families; others who have the discipline to live their faith.
There may even be others with Christmas sweaters that light up and play jingle bells. But rarely have the elements of true character been so artfully mixed as they were in Meg Donovan. Van Gogh is arriving in Washington; but a human masterpiece is gone.
When I was designated by President Clinton to serve as Secretary of State, I did what my predecessor, Warren Christopher, did. I turned to the person with the best instincts in Washington on how to deal with our friends on Capitol Hill. That was Meg. We began preparing in December.
Now, naturally, I thought the President had made a brilliant choice for the job, but I had to wonder, as we went along in practice, and Meg corrected and improved upon my every answer on every subject, whether there was anyone more qualified to be Secretary of State than she.
Of course, that being December, the birthday of the twins came along. And naturally, Liam and Emma didn't understand why their mother couldn't promise to attend the party. Their proposal, passed on and advocated by Meg, was that we adjourn our practice session and re-convene at Chuck E. Cheese. It is typical that, when the hour of the party drew near, Meg excused herself, and did not ask but told her new boss, that she was heading for Chuck E. Cheese.
When he was Secretary of State, George Marshall used to tell his staff ``don't fight the problem, decide it, then take action.'' I suspect he would have liked Meg a lot because, all her life, Meg was a doer.
Like quite a few others, she came to Washington committed to the fight for tolerance and respect for basic human rights for all people. What set her apart is that she could still make that claim after having worked here 25 years.
Whether at the Helsinki Commission, or the House Committee on International Relations, or the Department of State, Meg was one of the good guys. She could out-talk anyone, but talk isn't what she was after. She wanted change.
She wanted Soviet Jews to be able to exercise their right to emigrate. She wanted Tibetans to be able to preserve their heritage. She wanted prisoners of conscience to breathe the air of freedom. She wanted women to have the power to make choices that would determine the course of their lives.
Above all, she wanted to draw on and draw out the best in America: the America that would use its resources and power to help others achieve the blessings we all too often take for granted.
These were her ideals, but Meg was more than a dreamer. No one was more effective than she at creating the coalitions, marshaling the arguments and devising the strategies that would yield concrete results.
One of Meg's big problems was that she knew the system better and played it better than anyone else. So, whenever we found ourselves in a real legislative mess, which was not more than three or four times a week, we turned to Meg to help get us out.
Around the Department and earlier in her years on Capitol Hill, Meg's energy and wisdom added sparkle to every meeting. When she spoke, people listened. When she listened, people chose their words with care. She was thoughtful and patient with those who, by virtue of experience or ability, needed her help. She brought out the best in others; just as she demanded the best from herself.
In our collective mind's eye, we can still see her striding purposefully down a hall with her arms full of folders, trailed by some hapless Ambassadorial nominee whose future had been entrusted to Meg's capable hands.
We see her, hugely pregnant, maneuvering around swivel chairs and outthrust elbows on the cramped dais of the House International Relations Committee.
We see her serious and firm, forearms chopping the air for emphasis, persuading us with eloquence and passion that doing the right thing is also the smart thing.
We see her relaxing at an office party, gold bracelets flashing, surrounded by flowers from her garden, a cherub's face aglow with health and life, and her 100 megawatt smile turned on full.
We see her where she most belonged, with Duffy, her partner of 24 years, and with their children.
And as we see her, we also hear that inimitable laugh, which was not exactly musical, but which conveyed a love and enjoyment of living that somehow makes what happened even harder to believe and accept.
Meg knew the impermanence of life. She lost her mother to cancer and a sister to cystic fibrosis. So she made the most of every single day.
The poet, William Blake, wrote that:
He who binds himself to a joy
Does the winged life destroy
But he who kisses the joy as it flies
Lives in eternity's sunrise.
No force, not even life itself, could bind Meg Donovan or ground her flight. She was only 47. But, in that time, her gifts to those of us who are gathered here and to those from around the world who have benefited directly or indirectly from her commitment, were full and rich.
This morning, as she looks down upon us, I know that she would expect us to cry and that, if she could, she would herself hand us the tissues. But she would also want us to be thankful for our time together, and to dedicate ourselves to improving our own lives by helping others.
We are sad today, but our sorrow is accompanied by the abundance of joy in the memories we share, the life we celebrate and the love that surrounds us.
May that joy melt, over time, the clouds of our grief. May Meg's family, especially, draw comfort from our affection and from the deep respect we held for her.
And may Meg Donovan rest in peace, for we will never, never forget her.
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