Bill Text: VA SR537 | 2020 | 1st Special Session | Introduced

NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft
Bill Title: Celebrating the life of the Honorable Bonnie Lineweaver Paul.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)

Status: (Passed) 2020-09-10 - Bill text as passed Senate (SR537ER) [SR537 Detail]

Download: Virginia-2020-SR537-Introduced.html
20201150D
SENATE RESOLUTION NO. 537
Offered September 9, 2020
Celebrating the life of the Honorable Bonnie Lineweaver Paul.
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Patron-- Obenshain
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WHEREAS, the Honorable Bonnie Lineweaver Paul, an active community leader and respected attorney who ably represented residents of the Blue Ridge Mountains in the House of Delegates for two terms, died on May 24, 2020; and

WHEREAS, a native of Harrisonburg, Bonnie Paul graduated as valedictorian of Harrisonburg High School and earned a bachelor's degree in art history from Wilson College in Pennsylvania; she subsequently worked as an assistant to the curator of the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts; and

WHEREAS, in the 1960s, Bonnie Paul relocated to a military base in Thailand while her husband was deployed to Vietnam and demonstrated her commitment to lifelong learning by establishing a library on the base; and

WHEREAS, after returning to the Commonwealth, Bonnie Paul taught art history at what is now James Madison University and pursued an interest in government as founder of a local League of Women Voters and a Virginia representative to the 1980 Republican National Convention; and

WHEREAS, desirous to be of further service to the Commonwealth, Bonnie Paul ran for and was elected to the House of Delegates in 1975, becoming the first woman from the Shenandoah Valley to serve as a member of the body; and

WHEREAS, during her time as a state lawmaker, Bonnie Paul introduced and supported important pieces of legislation to benefit all Virginians and offered her unique insights to committees and commissions; and

WHEREAS, Bonnie Paul went on to earn a law degree from Washington and Lee University and practiced law in Charlottesville before opening her own practice in Harrisonburg, where she served the community for 30 years; and

WHEREAS, Bonnie Paul offered her wisdom and expertise to the James Madison University Board of Visitors, the Harrisonburg-Rockingham Historical Society, the Women's Health Center at Rockingham Memorial Hospital, and many other nonprofit organizations; and

WHEREAS, Bonnie Paul nurtured her passion for the arts throughout her life, painting watercolor scenes of the beautiful mountain vistas around the home she personally designed; in 2010, she researched, organized, and designed an engaging exhibition on fraktur folk art, an elaborate form of illuminated art related to the calligraphic fraktur script; and

WHEREAS, Bonnie Paul will be fondly remembered and greatly missed by her children, Penelope, John, and Thomas, and their families; her sister, Debra; and numerous other family members, friends, and colleagues on both sides of the aisle; now, therefore, be it

RESOLVED, That the Senate of Virginia  hereby note with great sadness the loss of the Honorable Bonnie Lineweaver Paul, a respected attorney and former state legislator who made numerous contributions to communities in the Blue Ridge Mountains; and, be it

RESOLVED FURTHER, That the Clerk of the Senate prepare a copy of this resolution for presentation to the family of the Honorable Bonnie Lineweaver Paul as an expression of the Senate of Virginia's respect for her memory.

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