Alabama attorney Lenora Pate, who served as a Chair of Alabama Citizens for Constitutional Reform from 2003-2020, has been inducted posthumously into the Alabama Women’s Hall of Fame at the University of West Alabama. ACCR Chair Kristi Thomson said, “Lenora lead ACCR with grace, intelligence, and compassion. We were blessed to observe her critical thinking style of leadership, her humor, and her eye on the end result.” Lenora’s husband, attorney Steve Brickman, highlighted Lenora’s many accomplishments with the following tribute at the induction ceremony:
This moment is our collective Stairway to Heaven both to honor Lenora and the other distinguished honorees and their families and to thank G-d for the blessings we received all the days of their beautiful lives.
Today is more than an honor, this is a deeply appreciated public affirmation of their amazing and glorious lives, devoted to the service of others, that brings all of us together today to remember, reflect and honor.
Before I talk about Lenora, I want to tell Ms. Burnes and the entire Board we are deeply grateful to each of them for the time and effort they sacrificed to bring joy and delight and affirmation to each of our families.
Our loved ones led glorious lives not for their own acknowledgement but in the words of Michah, “to do justice, love, mercy and walk humbly with G-d”.
I loved, admired and respected Lenora and I miss her. This morning I want to touch on some of her achievements which are many but more importantly to delve into her heart and soul.
Lenora’s passion for this State is rooted in the lessons she learned growing up in Inglenook, the daughter of a railroad worker and homemaker who reminded her at important junctures in her life that the real blessings we receive from G-d are more precious jewels than any that sparkle in this world. I am pleased that her two brothers and sisters-in-law are here with us today.
I met Lenora on January 1983 on a Saturday morning at the offices of Sirote and Permutt where I, a single man was the recruiting party. In walked a beautiful woman, impeccably dressed with a luminescent smile and a number ranking in her law school class which she decided to attend with custody of her two young boys, one here today, after her divorce. Within five minutes, we offered her a summer job which she accepted. Humbly, I think it was because of me. After she accepted our permanent offer, I asked her out for what she thought was a standard recruiting dinner to celebrate her acceptance. About ten (10) minutes into the meal, she figured it out and we married at Jim and Dolly’s house on Cliff Road on November 8, 1987.
From that moment in November 1987 until she slipped the surly bound of earth on June 23, 2021, we were partners in life, law and love. We were, as she used to say, flaming co-dependents, spending almost every minute of every day together at Sirote and Permutt or home. She was the kindest, most gifted and unique person I ever met. She was brilliant and elegant yet humble, compassionate, and well dressed. She taught us all that you can have hopes, dreams, ambitions, causes and loves outside the practice of law. For Lenora, these passions were her love of G-d and her family. Her outward displays of faithfulness were amazing. In a time when so many people shy away from their spirituality she made hers known, always in a non-judgmental way, and opened herself up to the blessings that it brought her. She signed every email with the words “Blessings, Lenora and you knew that the sentiment was individualized and carried profound meaning for her.
I told everyone if I wasn’t married to Lenora Pate, I would want to be . Lenora was a mother of two sons, Gavin a tenured professor of English at Virginia Wesleyan College and his wife Janna and their three (3) children who are 25, 22 and 19; and Ashby, a partner at Lightfoot Franklin law firm who is here today with his wife Sara Beth and their daughters Oa and Veda, soon to be 14 and 12 and Roland who turned one (1) yesterday (who is not here), whom Lenora never got to meet. One of my hopes and dreams is to make sure Roland knows his Mimi as if she were here with us. When people would try to reconcile her appearance dress with the ages of her grandchildren, her retort would always be, “I’m from Alabama and we start our families early in life.”
Lenora was once described in a feature article as having an unbelievable resume, better debating and speech making skills than Perry Mason, and more charisma than the A-Table at the Golden Globes – all of which is true. But it wasn’t the external trappings of success, as we typically measure them that define Lenora’s life of meaning and purpose. It was her huge servant’s heart which spoke to us Cor Ad Cor – heart to heart, her passion for this State, getting fired up for the things she believed in, her warm, inviting and radiant smile, her incredible compassion for others, her indomitable spirit, her principles – always trying to do the right thing the right way, and most importantly her deep and abiding faith in G-d which provided the foundation for everything she achieved in her life.
She believed, as I do that to whom much is given, much is required and that we are called by G-d to share those blessings. She believed that we must look out not for ourselves but for the next generation and the generations yet to come. To her, we are partners with G-d to help repair the world and make it a better place, because to her what good was her wealth and education and talents if our hearts are small, our vision is dim and our hands are weak.
That was why she was one of the most preeminent health care lawyers in the Southeast and was named in a poll as one of the five (5) most influential lawyers in Birmingham.
That is why she served for many years as Chairman of the ACCR, the statewide organization devoted to reforming our antiquated 1901 Constitution which she did.
That’s why she gave back to her law school as Chairwoman of their National Alumni Association as a thank you to her alma mater (where she finished second in her class) for giving her the skills to build financial security through the marvelous law firm, Sirote and Permutt we both have been privileged to work during her entire legal career and where her primary project of which she was very proud was working with Dr. John Kirklin for many years to develop the Kirklin Clinic, a jewel in the Crown of our City. That’s why she chaired the Board of the Jefferson Blount Mental Health Authority to make lives better for those who struggle with mental illness and other disabilities.
That’s why as a cancer survivor, she chaired the Board of the local American Cancer Society in the hopes they could find a cure for the disease that took her life and where she was recognized as the muti state Mid South Volunteer of the Year for leading the charge to pass public smoking bans in many Birmingham cities to make our lives better and healthier and received the National St. George award for these same achievements.
That is why she took a tour of duty in the public sector as the first woman Director of the Department of Public Relations and led Gov. Riley’s transition team and why she felt called in her late 40’s to run for Governor in 1998 – who does that but a fearless woman involved with power, love and a sound mind, promoting ideas and ideals that were ahead of their time and serving as a role model to so many women in the State.
But even after all she accomplished, she innately understood that true joy and happiness emerge from a spirit of giving and caring for others, particularly the young women who worked with her, were graced by her wisdom and whom she loved and mentored so they too might reach their full potential in life.
Lenora taught me how to live my life with meaning and purpose but also taught me how to die. In December 2000, doctors removed her thyroid, finding the most benign form on thyroid cancer. The survival rate is very high. Nearly two (2) years later, on May 6, 2021 after an MRI earlier that day, we received news that her cancer had migrated to her brain, an extremely rare occurrence. After her first radiation treatment, I thought she would be tired or down. Not Lenora because with her big smile she cheered up the other patients getting treatment and asked me to drive her to visit a friend solely to let her friend know how well she was doing.
On June 17, 2021, my mother in Charleston celebrated her 100th birthday with a big party. I had to go because I hadn’t told my mother or four (4) of my five (5) siblings. While I was waiting for my connecting flight, Lenora, who had barely been able to speak the day prior, face timed me and tried to assuage my guilt and told me to make sure I told my mother that she loved her and would see her soon. My mother passed away two (2) plus months later. Lenora sent long memos to friends and family describing her condition, asking for specific health related prayers and always ended with the words that marked Lenora’s life – Faith over Fear.
She broke into a big smile when friends visited, sang to her and tenderly caressed her heart. When a friend arrived at the hospital on June 18, the day before she was discharged and five (5) days before she passed away and read to her, her favorite Psalm, the 23rd. After he finished, she looked at him with a smile on her face and peace in her heart and spoke the words I will never forget – “My cup runneth over.” And when our son Ashby sat at her bedside two (2) days before she left us, and told her he was scared at losing her, she told him not to be frightened and spoke the words from Timothy she had spoken to him when he was twelve (12) and again throughout his life at his important forks in the road that “G-d has not given us a Spirit of Fear but Power, Sound Mind and Love.”
At this special moment, I see her beautiful face and feel her warm embrace as she gently takes my hand and tenderly caresses my heart, gently reminding us it is always better to light a candle than to curse the darkness, we are called to do the possible and have faith G-d will do the impossible, that good things will happen in G-d’s time not ours and that faith will always overcome fear. And when we follow her counsel, wisdom and faithfulness to
G-d, we know our lives were enriched by her presence, and like Lenora, our cup too does runneth over.
Lenora exemplified this states hope, inspiration and future and served as a shining example of what is good and pure in each of us and our State. She would always remind us to look to our future with hope and joy and that she would shine her light on us even in the darkest times. I want all of us to close our eyes for a few seconds to remember her smile, her brilliance, her touch, her enduring friendship, her unselfish leadership in so many areas which significantly benefitted our State, her love of G-d which blessed her each day of her life and through her blessings, blessed us as well.
I see Lenora’s light shinning on us today just like the light of all the amazing women who were inducted over time in this Hall of Fame. I feel her presence, and see her beautiful face and warm smile, reminding me how far this State has come but how much farther it still needs to go. Today, as we depart this sacred space, let’s remember the words of my parents who wrote to Lenora over and over, “When we count our blessings we count you twice.”
Today, as we celebrate this singular honor, we too count our blessings twice and light a candle to illuminate her memory. That light will always lead our way, as we count our blessings twice and will always be inspired by her life and blessed by her memory.