Miriam Morris
Miriam Mim Morris was blessed with a feminist vision encompassing both the long-term struggle for justice and fulfillment and the immediate survival needs of women and their families. She filled her life with family travel and always work for issues affecting women: employment domestic violence homelessness and political equity. Mim labored tirelessly for the Tucson/Pima County Women's Commission (where she was chair) for Shalom House which serves homeless women and their children and for battered women as a member and former chair of the Domestic Violence Commission in Pima County. Recognizing that female political power is essential to gender equity she was an active member of Arizona Women's Political Caucus and worked on the campaigns of many women candidates. Mim was an exemplary leader and partner sharing her own vision yet eager to hear others' ideas encouraging all to move ahead. She was persistent but very patient understanding that it sometimes takes a long time to effect positive change. She continued to devote her considerable energy t the quest for women's equality until her untimely death in 1998. In 1999 the Arizona Women's Political Caucus established the annual Mim Morris Woman Making History Award to recognize women who like Mim have made a significant contribution to the political and social improvement of women's lives. The award is announced at the AWPC Women Making History Luncheon in March each year. --Arizona Women's Political Caucus