Remembering Laura Pantelakos
Last week, Portsmouth and State House legend Laura Pantelakos passed away at the age of 89. A dedicated public servant and a true gem of a human being, she served her community and her state for 44 years as a state representative—much of that time also holding an elected position at the city level. Before last Thursday’s House session got underway, I was asked to speak in her memory—and surrounded by my fellow Portsmouth reps and some of her many friends—I did. You can find a recording of my remarks here and a full transcript appears below.
REMEMBERING LAURA PANTELAKOS
During my second term, one of the great privileges I had was commuting back and forth to Concord with Laura Pantelakos.
Laura was in her 43 and 44th years in the House. I was in my third and fourth—and it was my first term in the minority. I was relatively new to public service. Laura Pantelakos wrote the book on public service.
In the House, she served mostly on the Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee, rising to become ranking member and eventually in 2013 the first chairwoman of the committee. In her time in the House, she was also an Assistant Minority Leader and also served 16 years as a Portsmouth City Councilor and another 4 as a member of the Portsmouth Fire Commission.
For many of those years, she worked part-time as a waitress at Bickford’s where she’d bring customers their eggs and pancakes and then—if there wasn’t a council or commission meeting—she’d go home to a family that included a husband, 8 kids, and eventually 17 grandchildren and 22 great-grandchildren.
In her later years after her husband passed away, she shared a home with her daughter Petra and her family. One of the things you could never miss even as an outsider was the love—how her family watched out for her…and how she watched out for them.
Laura Pantelakos didn’t just represent Portsmouth…she was Portsmouth. Open, approachable, always willing to help, never afraid to get her hands dirty. Our city’s mayor, Deaglan McEachern, who grew up in Laura’s neighborhood, said that Laura “proudly represented the wing of the Democratic Party that likes to get things done, and she had an opinion about how to get things done.”
And despite being in the minority for most of her 22 terms, she did get things done. And yes, she had opinions but she also had priorities. On the House Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee, she worked tirelessly to improve the criminal justice system for law enforcement, people accused of crimes, but most of all for people who were victims. Throughout her career, she fought for victims compensation and against human trafficking in our state. She was a gun owner who wasn’t afraid to push for stronger gun safety laws. And a decade ago she pushed through legislation that forced colleges to report rapes on campus to local police rather than conducting investigations themselves.
One of the things we loved about Laura was she knew how to make her age work for her. When she raised her hand to ask a question during committee hearings on bills, usually the lobbyist or department head giving testimony would smile and look a little relieved. After all, kindly-looking grandmothers aren’t usually known for asking tough questions. It was always fun to see their faces fall as Laura was asking her question, because Laura’s true superpower was asking the one question they totally didn’t want to answer.
Committee work, passing good legislation, and getting things done were important to Laura, but constituent service was her genuine passion. People in Portsmouth knew that if you called Laura with a problem, she was always there to help. And one of the things she never hesitated to do was to knock on the doors of powerful people to get that help. Laura not only listened to the people who reached out to her, she never had a problem contacting governors, attorney generals, commissioners, mayors, or anyone else if she thought they could help her resolve an issue. I remember driving home with her one day where she announced “I met with the governor today.”
“You did?”, I said more than a little surprised.
“Yes, David. I called his office and told them I was coming over to talk to him.”
“And he met with you?”
“Of course he did,” she said. Then she told me about their conversation and the outcome. To Laura, it was just another day at the office. For the rest of the drive home, she told me stories about meetings she’d had over the years with other governors, attorney generals, mayors, congressmen, and department heads. I remember asking her if she ever hesitated to ask them for help. And she just looked at me and said, “No. Because they’re here to serve the people too.”
On one of her final session days after 44 years in Concord, Speaker Packard invited her to take the gavel as Speaker of the House. It was a gesture that showed how much Laura was admired and loved on both sides of the aisle. I remember Laura—and some of you probably also remember—her working her way through several bills flawlessly before handing the gavel back to the Speaker—like maybe, just maybe she’d seen this movie before. Afterwards, she listened with a big smile during several speeches that showed just how much her colleagues in the House appreciated her as a person and her many, many years of service. She then said a few words of thanks and went back to her seat. Seat number 1 in the first division, reserved for our longest-serving member—the Dean of the House.
Like many of us, over the years Laura responded to countless candidate surveys. Yesterday, I ran across one on the Patch that made me smile.
Near the end, the survey asked her to provide “the best advice ever shared with me”.
Laura’s response was “Listen and you will learn.”
The final question on the survey was “What else would you like voters to know about yourself and your positions?”
Laura’s answer? “That I will always fight for peoples rights.”
And she always did.
Services for our friend and dear colleague will be Saturday in Portsmouth and the details are in your email.
Please join me in a moment of silence for the unforgettable Rep. Laura Pantelakos.