Delaware says goodbye to Ruth Ann
A lot of laughs were shared Nov. 10 as friends, former governors, members of Congress and the president of the United States gathered in Milford to remember former Gov. Ruth Ann Minner.
Minner’s friend and Delaware secretary of state from 2001-09, Harriet Smith Windsor, started off the memories recalling a conversation she had with Minner about reconsidering the Clean Indoor Air Act. She said Minner replied, “Harriet, I really do appreciate you caring for me, but just suppose we don’t get a second term. It’s the right thing to do.”
Speaking in the Milford Church of the Nazarene, Gov. John Carney recalled attending the Milford Halloween parade in 2000, when Minner ran for governor and he ran for lieutenant governor.
“The crowd was going crazy. She was like a rockstar,” he said. “People seemed to know she was doing something historic, and at the same time, she was one of them.”
Carney got some laughs when he shared a story about former Gov. Jack Markell, who stopped in at the Milford Wawa before the funeral. While there, Carney said, a man asked Markell whether he was the former governor, and Markell said yes. Carney said the man replied, “Can’t say much for you as governor, but that Ruth Ann Minner was something.”
“True story, and I gotta tell you, I know how you feel,” Carney said, with a nod to Markell.
She was also tough, Carney said, recalling how Minner used to refer to him as her lieutenant governor. But she was also warm and kind, especially when it came to her family. “Her eyes would light up when she talked about her granddaughter’s softball, or anything else about the grandchildren,” he said.
Sen. Tom Carper, who was governor when Minner was lieutenant governor, read from the Book of James.
“It reminds me of Ruth Ann. It’s right to the point,” he said. “Faith, if it hath not deeds, is dead. Ruth Ann showed us her faith by her deeds. She lived her faith.” He also talked about stopping at the Milford Wawa, where a man asked him if he worked for Minner. “I said, ‘If you only knew,’” Carper said.
Jennifer Wagner Davis, who served as director of the Office of Management and Budget under Minner, shared how the governor taught her about the Delaware Way. After being asked whether she was related to former State Auditor Tom Wagner or former state Rep. Nancy Wagner – both Republicans – Davis told Minner neither, and that she was a transplant. “Or in her words, an outsider,” Davis said.
“She followed up with, ‘Well, we’re going to get along just swell. You have a lot to learn. And you must learn the Delaware Way. We will argue and vehemently disagree, but at the end of the day we are all friends, and believe it or not, some of us are family,’” Davis said.
From cigar and lobster nights at Woodburn to driving around Dover and Milford in her convertible, and spoofing “The Apprentice,” in which she fired Carney, Markell and former Lt. Gov. Matt Denn, Davis said Minner was a force of nature.
“I would not be surprised if she had some secret path known only to her,” Davis said. “She knew how to get things done, and she could outwork everyone.”
When it came to Minner, U.S. Rep. Lisa Blunt Rochester said, it was about grace and grit. “She was tenacious and never gave up,” she said. “Ruth Ann saw us, and we are her legacy.”
President Joe Biden finished out the speakers, paying respect to Minner and her years of service.
“Ruth Ann was one of Delaware’s true pioneers,” he said. “We would talk when one of us was in trouble politically. She is one of the most remarkable and inspirational people that Jill and I have ever met, and that our families have ever known.”
Biden said Minner, who lost two husbands, knew how he felt when his son, former Delaware Attorney General Beau Biden, died.
“I think she respected him. Like Ruth Ann, Beau walked among the people. When we lost him, Ruth Ann understood,” he said. “If I was back teaching, I would teach a course in Ruth Ann Minner. Think of what she did … Ruth Ann gave her best to Delaware. She gave her best to America. May God bless our dear friend. May God bless America.”
