Tubbs-Jones seen here in 2006 with actor/singer Jamie Foxx, and Congresswoman (C) Barbara Lee.

In walks this lady, tall in stature, with a wide and wonderfully bright smile.  She sits next to me at the table where I was seated.

As I seldom do when I’m not sure of a person’s name, or association, I will generally introduce myself in an attempt to get to know them.

After saying hello, I then casually asked the lady seated next to me, “Who are you”?

Never revealing her status, or her name, she replied, “Oh, I’m just a friend.”

Not knowing the ‘friend’ was Congresswoman Stephanie Tubbs-Jones (I literally had no idea who she was) we proceeded in light conversation.

It would be later that evening that I would learn of her identity.

From that night forward, Ms Tubbs-Jones would become another female member of the Congressional Black Caucus that I would come to admire. (Among others, Congresswomen Maxine Waters, Barbara Lee, Cynthia McKinney, and Sheila Jackson Lee).

I watched Ms. Tubbs-Jones in Senate discussions, and I watched and listened as she helped panel last year’s Annual Legislative Caucus  Town Hall Meeting, with many of her Congressional colleagues.   I even watched and listened to her explain why she chose to support Hillary Clinton over Barack Obama in this year’s presidential campaign, a decision she later changed.

I am saddened by the news of her passing today, and I will always remember her as the brightly-smiled woman who took the time to chat with someone on issues of the current day.

She was then, as she was at last year’s Caucus where I saw her last, very approachable, friendly, and honest.

Those are qualities that some say are rare in political figures today, but are appreciated and admired in those who truly possess them.

Congresswoman Tubbs-Jones will be sorely missed.

Related

CBC Remembers Congresswoman Tubbs.  Issues Statement.

View Jones-Tubbs on YouTube

AOL's 'Deaths in 2008'