Thomas Daschle: “I join the Senator from Alaska in remembering Mary Mikami Rouse. Mary Rouse recently passed away, at the age of 87…”

“I join the Senator from Alaska in remembering Mary Mikami Rouse. Mary Rouse recently passed away, at the age of 87, leaving behind an accomplished family and a legacy of academic achievement. She was born in the United States in 1912, the daughter of Japanese immigrants who had come to the United States to seek their fortune. Growing up in Alaska, Mary Mikami excelled academically and graduated with the highest honors from Alaska Agricultural College and the School of Mines, which later became the University of Alaska. After completing her college work in Alaska, she traveled to New Haven, CT, where she attended Yale University, where she met and married Irving Rouse and earned her Ph.D. Throughout her life she continued living in New Haven, working as lecturer, translator, and instructor at Yale's Institute for Oriental Languages. With her husband Irving, Mary had two sons, David Rouse, an urban landscape architect in Philadelphia, and Peter Rouse, my chief of staff and a man who has been my friend and closest adviser for now more than 15 years. All of us who know and work with Pete are aware of the enormous influence his mother Mary had on him. His success in life stems from the legacy of his mother--a keen intelligence, unparalleled integrity and judgment, and basic human kindness. The values he brings to this institution each day are, no doubt, the product of his upbringing and his mother's influence.”