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Mon: Mr. Malone
posted at 2009-04-20 23:51 | Last modified 2009-04-21 00:12
At the end of session in the Senate tonight, Pro Tem Marc Basnight asked members to stand and, “in your own way, say a prayer” for State Senator Vernon Malone.
Basnight called it “a night of sadness” -- but not entirely. “His family today suffers again as they did a couple of years ago when they lost Susan,” Basnight said on the floor, referring to Malone’s wife who died of cancer in March 2007.
“Vernon has been reunited with his wife, with what he loved and lived for for so long. Vernon, we miss you. We are saddened. But then again, we understand the joy you are experiencing.”
I searched my archives for tape of Malone on the Senate floor, but didn’t find much. That’s not because he wasn’t there – he was, rain or shine. But he was never the kind of guy who felt the need to advertise. He just did what he thought needed to be done, quietly, and without regard to coverage or credit. Malone was one of the worker bees of the legislature -- the folks who show up to do the heavy lifting, but shun the spotlight many would say they’ve earned.
My Malone story
It was 2005. I’d been on Jones St. for less than a year. And I was trying to talk to Jeanne Lucas, the Durham Senator who died of breast cancer about 18 months later. None of us knew then that Senator Lucas was even sick. She had always been gracious and forthcoming to the press, but then suddenly, she became withdrawn and unwilling to talk to reporters.
Still, I was at her desk on the Senate floor one day, trying (and failing) to get her to comment on some bill she’d sponsored, when a calm, kind voice behind me said quietly, “You know, she’s not going to talk to you.” It was Vernon Malone.
For reference, you have to understand two things. First, legislators never rescue each other from reporters. It’s just an unwritten rule. Second, Malone’s wife was also battling cancer at the time, though we didn’t know that yet, either. Looking back, there’s no doubt in my mind that Malone knew his friend Jeanne was fighting, too.
Senator Malone lost both his beloved wife Susan and his friend Jeanne Lucas to cancer in one month, March 2007. And no, I never heard him intervene for another lawmaker ever again.
We'll miss you, Mr. Malone.
Comments? Drop me a line.
