After 45 years at Common Cause, Vernell Grissom, the Common Cause director of membership services, has retired.

When she joined Common Cause in May 1978, her desk was located next to Common Cause founder John Gardner’s office. She has known every Common Cause president. She has mentored hundreds upon hundreds of employees, interns, and volunteers. She has helped thousands and thousands of members make their voices heard and exercise their rights.

Vernell has been our constant. She has been a friend, a colleague, and an inspiration.

Before her passing, late Common Cause President Karen Hobert Flynn shared this about Vernell:

“Sometimes there’s nothing quite like a good old fashioned phone call. That voice on the other end can brighten your day. And for the past 45 years, one voice has been on the other end of a call to Common Cause ready to brighten our members’ day.”

Vernell was the last Common Cause employee to work alongside John Gardner, and we think it’s appropriate to share her favorite quote of his with all of you today:

“The society which scorns excellence in plumbing as a humble activity and tolerates shoddiness in philosophy because it is an exalted activity will have neither good plumbing nor good philosophy: neither its pipes nor its theories will hold water.”

Thank you, Vernell, for being the best plumber in the business for 45 years