MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE

2011 1st Extraordinary Session

To: Rules

By: Senator(s) Harden, Dawkins, Blount, Browning, Butler (38th), Carmichael, Collins, Davis, Fillingane, Frazier, Hyde-Smith, Jackson (32nd), Jones, Kirby, Lee (35th), Mettetal

Senate Concurrent Resolution 505

(As Adopted by Senate and House)

A CONCURRENT RESOLUTION MOURNING THE LOSS AND COMMENDING THE LIFE OF PUBLIC SERVICE OF FORMER MISSISSIPPI STATE SENATOR JEAN DENMAN MUIRHEAD.

     WHEREAS, former Mississippi State Senator Jean Denman Muirhead passed away in Knoxville, Tennessee, on July 15, 2011, and was interred in Charleston, Mississippi; and

     WHEREAS, Senator Muirhead was born May 12, 1929, in Tallahatchie County, Mississippi.  As one of Mississippi's first female Senators (1968-1972), Jean Muirhead authored legislation that first allowed women in her state to serve on state court juries; and

     WHEREAS, once in her campaign for the Senate, she was condescendingly told by her male opponent that women had no place in the smoky motel rooms where much legislation was conducted.  She responded that if she were elected, she would do her legislating at the State Capitol instead of in smoke-filled motel rooms.  In 1968, to the consternation of the Secretary of the Senate, Muirhead appointed the first girl pages to serve at times other than the one special week set aside for that purpose.  Girls today are likely unaware that they were once barred from such service.  Muirhead was active in women's rights issues throughout most of her professional career; and

     WHEREAS, Senator Muirhead practiced law in Jackson, Mississippi, from 1968-1980 when she became an Administrative Judge with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in Birmingham, Alabama, and later in Charlotte, North Carolina.  She was appointed Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) by the Social Security Administration in September of 1991 and served as Hearing Office Chief Administrative Law Judge in Memphis, Tennessee.  In 1997, she became Administrative Law Judge in charge of the Division of Medicare in Falls Church, Virginia.  At her request in July 2001, she was assigned to the Nashville Office of Hearings and Appeals, where she retired in 2003; and

     WHEREAS, in 2006, she relocated to Knoxville, Tennessee, to be near family and friends in the area.  Judge Muirhead actively supported the Family Justice Center in Knoxville and was a volunteer for the Nashville Room at the Nashville Public Library, where the "Muirhead Collection," a large number of books concerning women's issues, is housed; and

     WHEREAS, Jean Muirhead is survived by her three children and four step-children by her marriage to Charles A. Haycraft, who died in 1991.  She is remembered by them and by her many friends as a tireless advocate for what is right and just, and as a person bound by love, loyalty and devotion.  Judge Muirhead personified the ideals of good citizenship and proved herself over and again to be a valuable asset to her community and her country:

     NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE SENATE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI, THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES CONCURRING THEREIN, That we do hereby mourn the loss and commend the life of dedicated public service of former Mississippi State Senator Jean Denman Muirhead, formerly of Jackson, Mississippi, and extend to her surviving family our sympathy on her passing and the thanks of a grateful state for her service.

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That this resolution be presented to the surviving family of former Senator Muirhead and made available to the Capitol Press Corps.