Gwen Graham: “my 18-year tenure in the Senate has capped an extremely satisfying personal experience with great rewards and…”

“my 18-year tenure in the Senate has capped an extremely satisfying personal experience with great rewards and gratification of public service. These have been some of the most significant influences on my life. The greatest influence, of course, has been my family. I was born into a family with good values and an admiration for education and an interest in politics. In February of 1936, my mother and father made two significant decisions. First, my father, who was a mining engineer by education and a dairy farmer by occupation, a man who had become extremely distressed at the level of underworld corruption in Dade County, FL, decided to run for the Florida State Senate to represent that county on a platform of cleaning up underworld corruption. The second decision my parents made in February of 1936 was to have a baby. I was the happy result of that second decision. My mother says that I came by my political instincts from the womb, that she spent her whole pregnancy going to political activities and that I became addicted. Throughout my public career, I have had the love and support of my partner of 45 years, Adele. No person in public life could have a more loving, a more caring, and a more contributing partner than I. At one point, Adele used to be nervous in public settings. Today, I wish I had her calm, her persuasiveness, her effectiveness in public settings.”