SENATE MEMORIAL 53

49th legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - second session, 2010

INTRODUCED BY

Stuart Ingle

A MEMORIAL

CELEBRATING THE LIFE OF PATTY JENNINGS AND RECOGNIZING HER MANY SIGNIFICANT ACCOMPLISHMENTS.

     WHEREAS, Patricia K. Jennings, known to all as "Patty", was an amazing woman of compassion, wisdom and strength whose life and accomplishments are well worth celebrating; and

     WHEREAS, Patty had a distinguished career as an advocate for early intervention, special education and health care services for children and adults with special needs; and

     WHEREAS, she crafted the legislation that created the New Mexico medical insurance pool in response to her personal experience of being unable to purchase health insurance for her daughter, Courtney; and

     WHEREAS, together with her husband, Senator Timothy Z. Jennings, she successfully lobbied for a bill to establish a partnership between the university of New Mexico cancer center and the university of Texas M.D. Anderson cancer center to conduct inflammatory breast cancer research; and

     WHEREAS, her health care and disability advocacy and her efforts to enhance access to services for individuals who are underserved or who have special needs will be her legacy through the Patricia K. Jennings Foundation, which was established in January 2009; and

     WHEREAS, although she was tireless in her advocacy for these and other important efforts, she was first and foremost a wife to Senator Jennings and mother to their five children; and

     WHEREAS, her children and husband were her primary passions and focus, and they and her parents, siblings and friends were the recipients of her unconditional love; and

     WHEREAS, her many friends and family characterize her life as one of selflessness and generosity; and

     WHEREAS, she was blessed with clarity of purpose and the ability to express herself with conviction, and was always working to see justice done; and

     WHEREAS, she brought compassion and devotion to everything she did, showing herself to be a determined, loving woman whose life was well-lived; and

     WHEREAS, February 14, 2010 marks the one-year anniversary of the death of Patty Jennings; and

     WHEREAS, her life and death remind us all to reach out to those less fortunate, to live each day to the fullest, to face each day with optimism and a smile and to leave the world a better place;

     NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE SENATE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO that the life of Patty Jennings be celebrated and that her many significant accomplishments be recognized and appreciated; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a copy of this memorial be transmitted to Senator Timothy Z. Jennings.

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