My dearest friend, Merle Hoffman, with whom I've strategized, demonstrated, worked, and partied for nearly 30 years, gave a beautiful, moving speech on my behalf. Merle is a very unique feminist. She has kept the vision alive and healthy; on her watch, it has never gone under. Merle built a high quality ambulatory medical-surgical center that services women's reproductive, birth control, maternal, cardiac, and mental health needs. She is also the founder and publisher of wonderful feminist magazine "On the Issues" for which I served as the Editor at Large. She is also the author of "Intimate Wars: The Life and Times of the Woman who Brought Abortion from the Back Alley to the Boardroom."