With the news that Congresswoman Julia Carson has terminal lung cancer it seems appropriate to look back over her colorful career.

I’ll remember two incidents most. The first one is also the first time I set eyes on her. Then-state Sen. Carson had a member of the Indiana House up against the wall outside the House chamber, poking him in the chest with a finger. She requested that he listen to her using terms I can’t repeat here. He listened.

The second came when she was Center Township Trustee and invited us along as she paid home visits on people who received assistance through her office. On several stops she determined that the money had been misspent.

When that happened, she would write out an impromptu contract detailing how the recipient could pay back the money and demand a signature. In one case a forlorn woman looked up from the contract to say, “I voted for you Miss Carson.”

Said Julia, “This is what you voted for.”