In Memory of Al Meiklejohn

State Senator Al Meiklejohn, my former Senator, who served from 1976 to 1996, passed away on March 1, 2010. In his honor, I did a Senate Memorial for him on Monday, March 8. In attendance in the Senate Chambers were his 4 children and their spouses/partners, his 11 grandchildren, and some close friends of the family. In addition, 14 former State Senators attended. 
The proceedings for the memorial took an entire hour and consisted of the reading of the 5-page Memorial (see below) and speeches by myself and other current and former Senators. When it came time to vote on the Memorial, a “roll call” vote was requested. President Shaffer called on all of the 35 current Senators, and then allowed the 14 former Senators in attendance to cast their “aye” vote as well. It was an amazing ceremony. 
 
This is the speech I gave:
I don’t talk much about how I came to know Al Meiklejohn personally. Because of term limits, I don’t think any of you were around in 1992 when that happened. But I think it’s fitting for me to tell you about it today, because it’s rather ironic that it should be me up here sponsoring this memorial. 
 
Although Al Meiklejohn had been my State Senator for 16 years, at the beginning of 1992 I hadn’t met him yet. He was a Republican, and I was a Democrat. But the Democratic Party was looking for a candidate to run against him. Meiklejohn was wildly popular and an icon in our community, especially because he had served on the Jeffco School Board, but the Democrats thought we had a tiny chance to take the seat because the ballot issue creating term limits had just passed. Also, it was what people were calling the Year of the Woman, partly because Josie Heath – Senator Heath’s wife – was running at the top of the ticket in Colorado for U.S. Senate. So I figured that I’d step up and put my name on the ballot.
 
I was under no illusion that I had a decent chance of winning. My best friends in the education community and in the labor community endorsed Meiklejohn. In fact, the only endorsement I got was from the Sierra Club, and that hurt Al’s feelings, because he had been a strong environmentalist. The election came out 62% for Meiklejohn and 38% for me. 
 
When I called him to congratulate him and thank him for being such a gentleman in the campaign, he told me that I should remain involved in politics, because I would have a good chance of being elected some day. He told me I needed to get my name known more by participating in local organizations and by becoming a champion for a cause.
 
After that, I became active in PTA legislative activities and eventually became the PTA’s volunteer lobbyist. As I sat and observed meetings of the Senate Education Committee, of which Meiklejohn was the Chair, I was incredibly thankful that I had lost the election and he had won. He made a huge difference in that committee. He cast many deciding votes that supported public education and other causes that were important to me. I would not have been able to have the same impact as a member of the minority party.
 
So today I stand here before you proud to be able to honor the man who did so much for Senate District 19, for education, for kids, and for the state of Colorado. Al, you will be missed!