Vermont S.C.R. 12: Senate concurrent resolution honoring Stanley Rosen of North Bennington for his significant and continuing contributions to the ceramic arts

Bill Text

R-370 Page 1 of 1
2026

VT LEG #389981 v.1
No. R-370. Senate concurrent resolution in memory of former Washington County
Senator Mary Just Skinner of Middlesex.
(S.C.R.12)
Offered by Senators Cummings, Perchlik, Watson, Beck and Hardy,
Offered by All Members of the House,
Whereas, a Hoosier by birth, Mary Just grew up in the Chicago area and graduated from
Barnard College and Columbia Law School in New York City, where she met her future
husband and fellow attorney, Scott Skinner; they married in 1970 and, in 1977, settled in
Middlesex, where they raised two sons and managed a beef cattle operation, and
Whereas, before hanging her professional shingle in Montpelier, Mary Just Skinner was
employed at Vermont Legal Aid, successfully advocating before the U.S. Court of Appeals
for the Second Circuit for the overturning of a U.S. Marine Corps policy automatically
discharging pregnant Marines, and at the Vermont Supreme Court, where she won a case
requiring utilities to secure regulatory approval before raising rates, and
Whereas, in 1978, at 32 years of age, Mary Just Skinner stood successfully for the first
of seven consecutive terms as a Vermont State Senator representing Washington County,
chaired the Finance and Judiciary committees, and served as assistant minority leader, and
Whereas, as a State Senator, she was especially focused on the challenges vulnerable
Vermonters encountered and on protecting the environment, and
Whereas, after leaving the Senate, Mary Just Skinner turned her civic attention to local
education governance, serving for 24 years on the Middlesex School Board, and, most
recently, she was a member of the Human Services Board and was on the board of directors
of Washington Electric Cooperative, and
Whereas, she was actively engaged in many community organizations; enjoyed
collecting folk art; was a voracious reader; and, in midlife, became an active athlete who
loved to hike, including in the Himalayas, and, at 59 years of age, she summited Mt.
Kilimanjaro in Africa, and
Whereas, Mary Just Skinner, whose husband passed in 2018, died unexpectedly on
January 9, 2026, at 79 years of age, while visiting her children and grandchildren in
California, and she served Vermonters with dedication and enthusiasm, now therefore be it
Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives:
That the General Assembly expresses its sincere condolences to the family of former
Washington County Senator Mary Just Skinner of Middlesex, and be it further
Resolved: That the Secretary of State be directed to send a copy of this resolution to
the family of Mary Just Skinner.