Camden County Commissioner Melinda Kane — now state assemblywoman — frequently shows up to county and local community events and announcements. Kane, far right, was in Cherry Hill at the official opening of the county skate park in Cooper River Park on December 18.
When U.S. Marine LCpl. Jeremy Kane was killed in Afghanistan in 2010, his mother, Melinda Kane of Cherry Hill, felt a need to continue her son's "mission of making a difference."
The former special education teacher, who still lives in the same Woodcrest neighborhood house that she and her late husband, Dr. Bruce Kane, bought in 1990, saw that local government was a way to honor her oldest son.
She found herself speaking widely at ceremonies and other events about her son, and then she moved onto the Cherry Hill Township Council and then the Camden County Board of Commissioners to make a difference in government, Kane told 70and73.com in an interview on Saturday afternoon.
Even Township Council "was beyond my expectations," but the Gold Star Mother on Saturday morning advanced even further when she was named by Democrats to fill the unexpired term of state Assemblywoman Pamela R. Lampitt, who in November was elected Camden County clerk. She resigned her Assembly post effective December 31.Â
Kane will step down as county commissioner on January 22 and will be sworn in to her new role in the Legislature on January 23. With other legislators, she will run in the Democratic primary in June.
If not for Jeremy's bravery, she said, "my life would not resemble at all what it is today." Before his death, she said, government service "was never on my radar at all."
Kane will represent District 6, with communities in both Camden and Burlington counties. The municipalities are:Â Â Audubon Park, Berlin Borough, Berlin Township, Cherry Hill, Clementon, Gibbsboro, Haddon, Haddonfield, Hi-Nella, Laurel Springs, Lawnside, Lindenwold, Magnolia, Maple Shade, Oaklyn, Pine Hill, Somerdale, Stratford, Tavistock and Voorhees.
Kane has two other sons: Daniel, who lives in Virginia and works as a foreign service officer for the U.S. State Department, and Benjamin, who works for the Battleship New Jersey in Camden.
Democrats from the municipalities that she will represent elected her at a meeting on Saturday morning.
Her main goal at the Statehouse, she said, will be to "make sure that South Jersey has a voice in Trenton."
In the beginning, she will serve in Lampitt's position on different legislative committees.Â
But in the future she wants to be put on a committee to be able to work with veterans and military families. The former Triton High School teacher said another legislative interest is education.
In a sense, she is retired but that has given her the opportunity to attend many events, announcements and celebrations around the county as a commissioner, she said.
