80R22574 JH-D

By: Branch H.R. No. 2842

R E S O L U T I O N

WHEREAS, Family and friends are mourning the loss of the Honorable Karen Jane Greene-Council, longtime state district judge in the 282nd District Court in Dallas County, who passed away on April 26, 2007, at the age of 50; and

WHEREAS, Judge Greene-Council grew up in the Oak Cliff neighborhood of Dallas and graduated from the Hockaday School and The University of Texas at Austin; and

WHEREAS, She worked for American Airlines for 10 years in New York City, where she met and dated comedian Jerry Seinfeld; she was involved in the incident that inspired the famous 1992 "Pez Dispenser" episode of the Seinfeld television series, which featured a crescendo of uncontrollable laughter that wrecked a piano recital; and

WHEREAS, After returning to Texas to attend Southern Methodist University School of Law, Judge Greene-Council became interested in criminal law; she worked as a briefing attorney at the Fifth Court of Appeals in Dallas and then served as a prosecutor in the Dallas County District Attorney's Office, where she held the distinction of never losing a felony jury trial as lead attorney; and

WHEREAS, When George W. Bush became the governor of Texas, he selected Judge Greene-Council to be his criminal justice advisor, and for two years she was involved in all aspects of the statewide criminal justice system, including legislation, victim's projects, juvenile law, parole, and executions; and

WHEREAS, Governor Bush appointed her as state district judge of the 282nd District Court in 1997; as a criminal judge, she presided over serious felony trials involving capital murder, aggravated robbery, rape, and child abuse and handled five death-penalty cases; in her 10 years on the bench, she was never reversed on appeal; and

WHEREAS, In November 1999, Judge Greene-Council was diagnosed with stage III-b breast cancer, and following a mastectomy and the removal of cancerous lymph nodes, she began a rigid schedule of chemotherapy followed by 33 rounds of radiation; after the cancer went into remission, she participated in a phase I clinical trial at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center to prevent recurrence; and

WHEREAS, Active in a variety of community organizations, she served on the board and as a volunteer at Gilda's Club and the Volunteer Center Community Council, and she also was a member of the boards of the Dallas Youth Services Corps, the Dallas County Juvenile Board, Children's Medical Center, and the Dallas Women Lawyers Association; and

WHEREAS, Judge Greene-Council became well known for her volunteer work related to cancer, as well as for sharing her experiences as a cancer survivor; in 2003, she was honored to receive the Macy's Heart and Soul award for her work in the cancer community; she has been published and featured in a wide range of media, including Cure magazine, The New Yorker, UPN's "Positively Texas," and John Hammarley's "4 Your Health" series on Fox 4 television; she often spoke to survivor and professional groups about the life-changing experience of being diagnosed with cancer, and she was quoted in the Summer 2007 issue of Heal magazine as saying, "My doctors regretfully told me that I had a poor prognosis. I learned that the best therapy was to never deny myself pleasures such as naps, long laugh-filled dinners with friends, and shoes"; and

WHEREAS, When this courageous woman was hospitalized in April 2007 after a recurrence led to a collapsed lung, she told her friends, "How can anyone say cancer beat me, when I am going to meet my maker?"; and

WHEREAS, After a week of saying good-bye to family members and numerous friends, including the president and the attorney general of the United States, she died peacefully in the early morning of April 26, 2007, at her home in East Dallas, with her husband, John Council, and her two dogs, Sam and Taz, at her side; now, therefore, be it

RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives of the 80th Texas Legislature hereby honor the memory of the Honorable Karen Jane Greene-Council and offer sincere condolences to her husband, John Council, and to the other members of her family; and, be it further

RESOLVED, That an official copy of this resolution be prepared for her family and that when the Texas House of Representatives adjourns this day, it do so in memory of Judge Karen Greene-Council.