By the selection committee of Jan Beran, Ruth Hamilton and Jackie Manatt. This article was printed in The Voter in April 1999.

Mary Richards will be honored as the 1999 recipient of the Carrie Chapman Catt Award at the annual meeting of LWV Ames on April 15. Mary first joined the League of Women Voters in Lansing, Michigan, in the early 1960's while her husband was in graduate school and she was home with three small daughters. One of her activities there was lobbying for League positions at the Michigan legislature. When her family moved to Ames in 1969, she joined the Ames LWV and continued to do lobbying for League, this time in Des Moines.

Mary served on the LWV Ames board in the early 1970s and, inspired by the League's work and activism, she enrolled in Law School. While in law school and during her subsequent career with the Iowa Legislative Bureau and as Story County Attorney, she still found time to moderate candidate forums and provide programs. Most recently she provided leadership for the LWVlA's review of the juvenile justice position and played a major role in drafting the revised position that we approved, through concurrence, in February.

Congratulations, Mary!