Earlier this month I received devastating news of the death of my friend, Mary Selekey. Mary lived in Northeastern Washington and was a pioneer in Health and Human Services in Stevens, Ferry, and Pend Oreille Counties. I met Mary in 1985 when she was working to establish the Rural Resource Center in Colville and worked with Northeast Tri County Regional Health District. In 1999, Mary was hired by Gary Locke to serve as the State Secretary of Health where she served until 2013. She pioneered legislation to ban public smoking and led initiatives to increase opportunities for immunizations. Mary was President of the Colville Branch of AAUW. She was a tremendous mentor and friend and I will miss her dearly.

In thinking about Mary’s contributions to the communities she served, I was reminded of a quote by Ruth Bader Ginsberg, “Women belong in all the places where decisions are being made.” I did some research and found statistics reflecting the percentages of female representation in the following places where “decisions are being made”: US Supreme Court 33%, U.S. Senate 26%, U.S. House of Representatives 23%, State Governors 18%, State Legislators 29%.

As individuals, let’s think about we can encourage women to contribute to their communities the way Mary did.

Thank you for letting me be of service!