Peter Courtney

Courtney, D-Salem, is president of the Oregon Senate and represents Senate District 11.

Sen. Jackie Winters passed away from cancer almost two weeks ago. She was 82.

It hurts more than I want to admit. I’ve lost a partner, but more importantly, I’ve lost a friend.

I always thought I’d see her on the Senate floor again. I’m grieving that I won’t.

Deciding what to share about my friend is hard. Many will talk about the senator everyone knew. I want to talk about the person few knew.

Jackie was one of six children. From a young age, she loved to learn and never lost that love. She was a history buff. She spent time researching her family’s genealogy because she wanted to know more about her own personal history. She needed to know where she came from.

She was so proud of what she learned. She discovered her grandfather was Robert Jackson. She loved that he had a poll-tax receipt showing he paid $3 in 1891 so he could register to vote. She found a story in the family Bible that showed how he worked tirelessly to save the money to pay that poll tax. It stayed with her that her grandfather believed so firmly in democracy that he worked to pay a poll tax so he could set an example and vote.

Jackie knew she came from humble beginnings and never forgot them. She was honored by her Native American heritage.

She was part Choctaw and part Blackfoot. In researching her family’s history, she learned the nation’s 31st vice president, Charlie Curtis, who himself was part Native American of the Kaw Nation, personally helped her great-grandmother. Curtis secured pensions for her distant relatives because their father had died while serving during the Civil War.

Jackie’s family’s beliefs in this great country had an impact on Jackie. I’m glad she could add to her family’s proud history.

She was known throughout Salem as the owner of Jackie’s Ribs, a barbecue rib place that is still talked about today. She then married her husband Ted in 1971. He was a former prison inmate with a rough past. His determination and drive to better himself reinforced many of Jackie’s beliefs.

Through her great love, she became convinced people deserve second chances, especially youths who get in trouble young. She started her career in government service when she was just 22, working in the Oregon Health Science Center as a clerk typist.

Ten years later, she became a supervisor for the late Gov. Tom McCall’s Economic Opportunity Office, and later she would work for the late Gov. Vic Atiyeh, where she helped create the Oregon Food Share program, which today is part of food banks across the state. It was a natural part of who she was to feed those in need of a meal.

In 1998, she herself became part of Oregon’s history when she became the first African-American Republican, being elected to the House of Representatives. Then, in 2002, she was elected to the Senate, letting her life’s work keep pace with her belief of putting others first.

From her humble beginnings in Topeka, Kansas, Jackie knew what it was like to struggle.

It was important to her to give back. Oregonians have lost a champion who has always looked out for them.

She believed young people who strayed deserved a second chance. She believed hungry children couldn’t concentrate on learning. She looked out for small businesses.

These principles guided her throughout her life in public service

We were a tag team. We didn’t think of ourselves as Democrats or Republicans. We functioned more like brother and sister. I never had any sisters, but I think that’s what brothers and sisters do. We always looked out for each other.

We were Jackie and Peter. Peter and Jackie. Jackie the Republican. Peter the Democrat. People talked about us in the same breath.

We represented Salem and the Mid-Valley well. She was a loyal Republican to the end.

Her last bill on the floor of the Senate was SB 1008. It passed with bipartisan support.

She determinedly came on the Senate floor to carry the bill.

It was a dream of Jackie Winters to see SB 1008, which gives judges more discretion when sentencing juveniles, passed. It was an emotional moment when the bill passed.

As was her style, Jackie remained committed to those most in need up to the end. She didn’t care about how she would be characterized in history. She just cared about giving advantage to those who’d never known it.

I feel privileged to have been her friend and to have worked with her.

I’m still processing her loss. I know I will miss her very much.

Oregonians will, too.