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2021 SPECIAL SESSION I
WHEREAS, the Honorable Joan Hardie Munford, an esteemed health care administrator and distinguished former member of the Virginia House of Delegates, died on November 11, 2020; and
WHEREAS, Joan Munford attended Blacksburg High School, where she met her loving husband, Thomas William Munford, and then Radford University, where she majored in education; and
WHEREAS, along with her brother, Joan Munford founded a nursing home development corporation in the 1970s; she became a licensed nursing home administrator, working with Heritage Hall in Blacksburg and rising to the position of vice president of operations; and
WHEREAS, Joan Munford’s work in health care and with the elderly led her to get involved with policymaking, and in 1981, she was elected to represent the 13th District in the Virginia House of Delegates; and
WHEREAS, Joan Munford would continue to serve in the Virginia House of Delegates for 12 years, at a time when she was one of only eight women in the legislative body; and
WHEREAS, Joan Munford served on the Committee on Corporations, Insurance and Banking; the Committee on Labor and Commerce; and the Committee on Education, with which she played a vital role by crafting the legislation that introduced family life education into the Commonwealth’s school curriculum; and
WHEREAS, Joan Munford became a major proponent for workers’ rights and was known in the Committee on Labor and Commerce for working across the aisle on contentious issues, securing the passage of workplace safety regulations and revisions to child labor laws, namely policies on the working conditions for migrant children; and
WHEREAS, Joan Munford’s legislative legacy includes strengthening nurse practitioners’ responsibilities, leading studies on health insurance premiums, securing millions of dollars to fund capital projects and academic programs at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, and advancing early childhood and preschool education; and
WHEREAS, in her personal life, Joan Munford was known as a woman of faith and a lover of music; she was especially fond of playing piano and was often asked to play during receptions at the Governor’s Mansion and at events for the legislature; and
WHEREAS, despite suffering from dementia in recent years, Joan Munford continued to play for her family and friends at Commonwealth Senior Living at Christiansburg until the final days of her life; and
WHEREAS, guided throughout her life by her deep and abiding faith, Joan Munford enjoyed worship and fellowship with her communities at Blacksburg Baptist Church and Blacksburg Presbyterian Church; and
WHEREAS, preceded in death by her parents, her loving husband, Thomas, and her brother, Thomas D. Hardie, Joan Munford will be fondly remembered and dearly missed by her daughter and son-in-law Mary and David Harder; her grandsons, James Harder and Benjamin Harder and his wife, Jacquelyn Harder; great-grandchildren, Cole and Airlie Harder; and numerous other family members, friends, and colleagues on both sides of the aisle; 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 the Honorable Joan Hardie Munford, a cherished former member of the Virginia House of Delegates whose unwavering dedication to the Commonwealth touched countless lives; and, be it
RESOLVED FURTHER, That the Clerk of the House of Delegates prepare a copy of this resolution for presentation to her daughter and son-in-law, Mary and David Harder; her grandsons, James Harder and Benjamin Harder and his wife, Jacquelyn Harder; and great-grandchildren, Cole and Airlie Harder, as an expression of the General Assembly’s respect for her memory.