Political Quotes

“today I wish to recognize and honor Esther Cody Splitt, on the occasion of her 100th birthday. Her incredible life of ``firsts'' and extraordinary service to her community and country began with her birth in the historic year of 1919, the year women earned the right to vote. With encouragement from her smart and strong-willed Irish mother, Cody grew up in Wausau during the Great Depression, when money for entertainment was nonexistent. Instead of sending Cody to the movies, she told her to go to the county courthouse and watch the lawyers for free. ``Enchanted'' by what she saw, Cody returned home and told her mother she had decided to become a lawyer. Her mother supported her dreams and told her there was ``no reason she could not be a wife, mother and a lawyer, just as a man is a husband, father and lawyer.'' That prescient inspiration became reality when Cody graduated from the University of Wisconsin Law School, one of only five women in the class of 1949. Before attending law school, Cody already had a successful career as one of the first women to serve in the U.S. Navy. She said the day she was admitted to the WAVES--Women Accepted for Volunteer Services--was the turning point of her life. Fascinated by politics, Cody was disappointed to learn she was assigned to Wright Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio. She said to the assigning officer, ``That's lovely, but I really would like to go to Washington, D.C.…”