The International Civil Rights Center & Museum has adopted a special resolution honoring the life of former Senator Kay Hagan, who passed away last week after a lengthy battle with a tick-borne virus.
The action of the museum is just one of many in which institutions and people across the country have been paying their respects to the late state and US senator whose life had so much effect on the lives of others.
Hagan, a 10-year state senator and one-term US senator, died on Monday, Oct. 28 at the age of 66 – three years after she contracted encephalitis and was diagnosed with Powassan virus.
Hagan was remembered fondly at a memorial service in Greensboro on Sunday, Nov. 3, and, this week, the civil rights museum that Hagan supported in many ways over the years gave her another honor.
When Hagan was a state senator, she was largely responsible for obtaining state funding for the preservation of the F.W. Woolworth’s building in downtown Greensboro, which is now the civil rights museum.
The resolution by the museum acknowledges her important contributions as a state senator and also notes that, as a US senator, Hagan continued her support of the museum through attending fund-raising events and other actions.
The resolution adopted by the museum’s board states, “Now, therefore let it be resolved, that the Board of Directors of the International Civil Rights Center & Museum declares that the Museum will always cherish the memories of Kay Hagan. We will use the enduring effects of her crucial support to promote a vision of a better America, and we do now bid her ‘Farewell,’ with gratitude for her life of public service to our community and to the nation.”
Hagan got public accolades from many others as well over the past week. To mention just one, former Guilford County Attorney Jonathan Maxwell wrote in a letter to the editor to the News & Record that, when he was county attorney, Hagan would often call him asking detailed questions about county issues in which she played a role. She was very involved and stayed extremely well informed, he stated. That point was made by other Guilford County directors this week as well.
Maxwell wrote: “I was always most impressed with the great effort she obviously had put into the understanding of the issues and the depth of her concern for the well-being of her constituents without regard to the politics involved.”
