Skip to main content

Mourning the ‘Lady of the Harbor,' Helen Delich Bentley

August 11, 2016

Helen Bentley: "Indefatigable Lady of Baltimore Harbor"

‎By Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio)


Last week, America paid a respectful tribute to a precious patriot, and I lost‎ a beloved former colleague, pioneering Congresswoman Helen Delich Bentley. Endearingly dubbed "Lady of the Harbor" by her admirers, Rep. Bentley stood her ground and championed her causes with gusto, wit, and humor.

Determined and strong, those that knew her best will never forget her passion for issues and compassion for others. Life's latest test of her will demonstrated again her resolute courage. She shared affection with and protected those who were concerned about her rapidly deteriorating health. Typical Helen: putting the interests of others ahead of her own.

I had the privilege of serving with Helen for ten years, from 1985 to 1995. We both were elected when about two dozen women served in Congress; we hailed from different regions of America, but arrived in Congress representing the rough and tumble economies of manufacturing America‎ at a time of great stress.

We struck up a fine, respectful friendship as we became united in our determined quest to stem the steady erosion of good stable jobs that had afforded decent livelihoods to our constituents. It was the struggle that defined her. It circumscribed our years of service as we brought to the fore for the first time the negative impact of failed global trade regimes on America's workers, something she witnessed firsthand in Baltimore.

Prior to her election, her experience as a dogged journalist, the first female chair of the Federal Maritime Commission and longtime champion of the Port of Baltimore afforded her a global perspective on world markets. She knew a closed market, like Japan's, and she confronted it. I will never forget the time she hoisted a gigantic sledge hammer, almost longer than she was high, and smashed through a Toyota windshield on the front lawn of the US Capitol to illustrate Japan's closed market. It was catnip for the TV cameras, as Helen the former print journalist knew full well it would be.

As an expert on the maritime industry, Helen covered the globe. She brought the breadth of that experience and her probing mind to her Congressional work. Even when she left Congress to seek a statewide office that did not break her way, she continued working for her region and America's economic growth. She was indefatigable.

To meet Helen was to meet someone you would never forget. Sharp as a tack, with a sparkly glint in her eye, she was unrelenting in pursuing her objectives. A week before her passing she was still working to develop economic opportunity for Baltimore. And, a salty word or two was not unusual as Helen prowled the floor of Congress rounding up votes for critical issues.

I will never forget an all-women congressional delegation we co-chaired together to Matamoros, Mexico, the home of dozens of sweat-shop factories in May, 1993. It occurred prior to the Congressional debate on the infamous North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) deal that November. Helen’s keen eye didn't miss a bend in the road that led to squalor and biting poverty as we discovered dozens of relocated US companies in Matamoros stuffed in the penny-wage production zones south of the US border. Helen's reporter's sonar never failed her.

Helen had a softer side too, a captivating sense of humor and an easy laugh. She made you feel welcome to be in her company. Honest, candid and grounded‎, she offered the best years of her life to the people of Maryland and to her country.

May the angels comfort her loved ones and carry her to the highest destination in the heavens, where she will indubitably continue to use her considerable power to enlighten our universe. Her spirit lives in every person who knew or worked with her, ‎and was inspired by her persevering ethic. Let us thank God for the honorable and effective service of Congresswoman Helen Delich Bentley, the Lady of the Harbor.

Click HERE for the original article