Green Party Leader Named 'Outstanding Senior Citizen' at Ramsey County Fair

Rhoda Gilman, who was among the founders of the Green Party of St. Paul and the 4th Congressional District, was nominated by Amber Garlan, a fellow Green, as Ramsey County's "outstanding senior citizen." She received the award on July 17, the closing day of the Ramsey County fair. Her name will join those of other county-selected senior citizens in a Minnesota-wide competition at the state fair.

The nomination cited Gilman's work for the Green Party and her service to the Minnesota Universal Health Care Coalition (MUHCC), which promotes a statewide single-payer health care plan and where she has represented the Green Party since 2003. Other volunteer roles that Gilman has performed and books she has published since her 1992 retirement from the staff of the Minnesota Historical Society were also mentioned. In nominating her, Garlan stated: "Rhoda's love of Prairie Populism, justice, and democracy can be seen in her work."

Gilman, who is 84, accepted the award with thanks, saying that "in these days of economic and environmental collapse, every one of us, no matter what our age, needs to do whatever we can to help our fellow humans and to restore health to this beautiful earth."