tribute

Sen. Johnson, 59, North Branch, died suddenly Saturday, Aug. 21 following surgery for a malignant brain tumor. Her District 18 included Chisago and Isanti counties and parts of Kanabec and Pine counties in Minnesota.

The environment, education, mass transit, human services and rural development were some of her legislative concerns. She was chairwoman of the Transportation Budget Subcommittee. She also served on Environment & Agriculture Budget Division; Environment & Natural Resources; Jobs, Energy & Community Development; State Government Finance and Transportation committee.

Janet served for 15 years on the Minnesota Environmental Education Board. "Her dedication to protecting our natural resources will top the list of her accomplishments, believes Sen. Roger Moe. "She was a steward of our natural resources in her private life and with the public policy she advocated."

Although chemically-injured people often have difficulty with lawmakers, Janet listened to her constituents and took our needs seriously. Last session she carried legislation for organic farmers. She co-sponsored a bill designed to inform parents before pesticides were sprayed in schools. During the 1997–1998 legislative session, she had been the Senate sponsor of SF 2152, a bill to provide housing assistance for people with MCS.

At the Memorial Service for Senator Johnson, her colleague, Senator Pat Piper read the quotation that encircles the Senate chamber. Senator Janet Johnson believed in this and lived it.

"Let us develop the resources of our land, call forth its powers, build up its institutions, promote all its great interests, and see whether we also, in our day and generation, may not perform something worthy to be remembered." Daniel Webster

In 1985, a young medical student named Cindy Duehring came home to find that her apartment had been sprayed for fleas while she was gone. The pesticide was Dursban™, which authorities say is safe for humans. Cindy was poisoned. She was unable to return to school, but she used her considerable talent to publish information and communicate about low-level poisoning to others. Her health continued to deteriorate. After 14 years of brilliant work and much pain and illness, Cindy finally died of that poisoning on June 29,1999. She was 36 years old. Many of us, even the writers, were too stricken to express our grief and fear. We thank Maggie MacRaven for the following tribute. We have printed and e-mailed and sobbed over these words. She has clearly said what we were unable to say ourselves. In Maggie’s words, "Cindy we love and honor you. None of us know where our journey leads us today, but the road was paved for us by a loving, caring, angelic person. May we all be worthy enough to travel this road." Cindy was our pioneer and our hero. Here are Maggie’s words:

We are indeed a family--a special family at once similar and dissimilar to other families. We haven't seen the many faces of our family members; we haven't touched and hugged, but we share much love. Many of us lost our families when our lives were forever altered by chemicals -- families that we so desperately needed at a time when those we turned to for help -- trusted legislators whose salaries we paid to protect our lives, politicians that had the power to help us chose otherwise. We lost trusted medical professionals that at one time we held in high regard, and employers whose work we had done loyally.

Many of us were alone for many years, daring never to mention our afflictions, We had learned that their mere mention would find us a permanent home in an institution locked safely away and out of sight -- suffering in solitude, asking questions with no answers about what was taking place within us.

Some of us were young and looking forward to making an indelible mark on the world fighting for justice. These dreams would not only be dashed but our very belief in justice would be shaken to the core. I was one of those solitary beings and then …

CINDY DUEHRING appeared -- my heart jumped into my throat -- I was not alone! I was not alone! There is someone else like me! I am validated, I am not crazy, I am not a malingerer, I haven't fabricated this illness (indeed how and why would anyone?). I read her research and smiled for the first time in a long time.

I sent copies of her research to those I wanted to have back in my life -- those I wanted to hold me and say they regretted their mistake -- I would then forgive them and we could work through this life I faced together -- BUT -- I was mistaken -- this did not come to fruition. That closed an important chapter in my life and I moved on ...

I will always remember Cindy and how she changed my life and lives of others. I had yet to "meet," my new family of feisty sisters, loving brothers, needy children -- a family ever bound together by our marginilization by those we trusted. Cindy was one of the people that brought together this wonderful family with her tireless research and willingness to help at the expense of her own health. I feel so small in her shadow -- how can I complain about being too tired? My efforts pale in light of hers. What, indeed, would I have done if it were not for Cindy saving my life with her writings and leading me towards the family with whom I now share my words.

I love Cindy and I love you all -- I have become the closest to loving sisters with whom I have exchanged the sharpest words -- we battle, get our feelings hurt, misunderstand one another, are willing to stand up to one another, and then rally in a loving cyber bundle of love sharing instant messages, long emails -- the battles bringing us closer than ever before with an enriched kind of love and a new sense of knowing. I have met wonderful, dear, sweet brothers with whom I share a very special connection, and children struggling to be normal in a world that is so dangerous to us. I share horse stories, love stories, jokes, academic nerdy science, and I receive computer help. What would I ever do without you all -- and now what will we do without Cindy?