After weeks of working at home due to a knee injury, Delegate Mary Roe Walkup, R-Kent, returned to the State House Monday eager to get back to work.
“I’m going to be very busy,” said Walkup, who sits on the House Economic Matters Committee. Walkup said she was happy to be back in Annapolis and “ready to get into the hard work” of the second half of the legislative session.
Walkup, 85, slipped on the stairs in the House office building on the second day of the session and injured her knee.
At first, Walkup thought it was just bumped, she said. But a doctor’s examination showed the severity of the damage — a cracked kneecap, which would require a long recovery.
“You have to take care of these things,” Walkup said. Having been a registered nurse herself, Walkup said she was very aware of how important it is not to rush the healing process. And it could have been much worse.
“Fortunately, I didn’t need surgery,” Walkup said.
She spent several weeks recuperating at her home in Kent County, under doctor’s orders not to put pressure on her knee. Her daughter helped her around the house, and modern technology made sure she didn’t fall too far behind on work.
Back in Annapolis, Walkup’s sole staff member, 22-year-old Legislative Aide Kevin Waterman, kept in regular contact by phone, fax and e-mail, and attended meetings as her representative.
“This is my first session,” Waterman said. “So it’s been an interesting experience.”
Waterman was even able to submit Walkup’s bills to the House chief clerk on her behalf, an unusual bending of rules stating that a bill must be personally filed by its lead sponsor.
Walkup said her priority in her first week back is to study up on the bills before the Economic Matters Committee. Between her injury and the absences of other delegates due to last month’s snowstorms, there’s a lot of catching up for everyone to do.
“The committees weren’t doing as much work, because not everyone was here,” Walkup said. “I kind of expected us to have to begin to jam things together and work longer.”
Walkup, who has served in the House since 1995, said she was greeted with warm applause upon her return Monday night.
“I had a fantastic welcoming,” Walkup said. “I was very flattered … people were so kind to say so many nice things about getting me back.”
– By Capital News Service’s Daniel Leaderman