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2015 SESSION


HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 678
Celebrating the life of Jean Williams Auldridge.

 

Agreed to by the House of Delegates, January 23, 2015
Agreed to by the Senate, January 29, 2015

 

WHEREAS, Jean Williams Auldridge of Northern Virginia, whose overarching mission in life was to help those less fortunate and who was an effective and tireless advocate for the imprisoned and their families, died on October 10, 2014; and

WHEREAS, a native of Washington, D.C., Jean Auldridge was reared in Vienna and graduated from Falls Church High School; she worked as a congressional staff member on Capitol Hill for several decades; and

WHEREAS, in 1989, Jean Auldridge started volunteering for Citizens United for Rehabilitation of Errants (CURE), a national organization representing prisoners and their families, and she became director and president of Virginia CURE in 1992 when it was incorporated as a state chapter; and

WHEREAS, Jean Auldridge drew on her years of experience, her intelligence, and her strong work ethic to help make Virginia CURE an effective advocacy organization for prisoners and their families in the Commonwealth; and

WHEREAS, under Jean Auldridge’s leadership, Virginia CURE worked to address numerous issues, including the mental health of inmates, prison conditions, the use of solitary confinement, access to health care, visitation rights, voting rights, low rates of parole, and the cost of telephone calls and commissary items; and

WHEREAS, the reentry of former prisoners into society was of great interest to Jean Auldridge and the members of Virginia CURE, and she welcomed a released inmate into her home for a few years; and

WHEREAS, Jean Auldridge promoted legislation to correct injustices in the criminal justice system; she also regularly met with officials to discuss issues of concern and encourage possible solutions, such as the creation of Fluvanna Correctional Center for Women; and

WHEREAS, during her tenure with Virginia CURE, Jean Auldridge hosted many public forums and helped organize six local CURE chapters in the Commonwealth, helping to give the organization a broader reach and increase its effectiveness as it worked for those who often did not know how to ask for help; and

WHEREAS, a woman with a great heart, Jean Auldridge often talked and met with prisoners’ family members, providing solace and advice; she also answered inmates’ correspondence to Virginia CURE, and in the last months of her life, many people wrote to thank her for her tireless help; and

WHEREAS, Jean Auldridge’s other interests included genealogy, and she helped raise money to restore a historic site that once was owned by an ancestor, Chapman’s Mill in Broad Run; she also enjoyed worship and fellowship at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church in Alexandria; and

WHEREAS, Jean Auldridge will be greatly missed and fondly remembered by her children, Judy and John, and their families, and by many other family members and friends; now, therefore, be it

RESOLVED by the House of Delegates, the Senate concurring, That the General Assembly hereby note with great sadness the loss of Jean Williams Auldridge, founding director and president of the Virginia Chapter of Citizens United for Rehabilitation of Errants, who devoted many years to advocating for those who are incarcerated and their families; and, be it

RESOLVED FURTHER, That the Clerk of the House of Delegates prepare a copy of this resolution for presentation to the family of Jean Williams Auldridge as an expression of the General Assembly’s respect for her memory.