Mrs. Mary Margaret Whipple

Senator
31st District
Virginia State Senate

Senator Mary Margaret Whipple represents the 31st District in the Virginia State Senate. The 31st District includes Arlington County north of Columbia Pike, the City of Falls Church and eight precincts in Eastern Fairfax County. Now in her third term, Mrs. Whipple was first elected to the Senate of Virginia in November, 1995. She is a member of the Agriculture, Conservation and Natural Resources, the Education and Health, the Local Government, the Privileges and Elections, and the Rules Committees of the Senate. She chairs the Senate Democratic Caucus.

Before the election to the Senate of Virginia, Mrs. Whipple was a member of the Arlington County Board from 1983 to 1995. During her years of the service on the County Board Senator Whipple took an active interest in transportation issues, serving on the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority Board of Directors as member from Arlington She was Chairman of the Metro Board in 1990. She also chaired the Transportation Committee of the Virginia Association of Counties.

Senator Whipple is a member of a number of Legislative Commissions including the Northern Virginia Transportation Commission, the Geographic Information Network Advisory Board, the Housing Commission, the Virginia-Maryland-District of Columbia Interstate Transport Commission, and the Commission reviewing Administrative Rules. Senator Whipple is also a member of the National Conference of State Legislatures' Committee on the Environment and the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments Air Quality Committee.

A former instructor at Northern Virginia Community College, Mary Margaret Whipple began her career of public service as a volunteer in her daughters' schools. Long active in the Parent-Teacher Association, she was appointed to the Arlington County School Board in 1976, and was Chairman in 1978. She was a member of the Virginia School Boards Association Legislative Committee in 1978-80.

Born in Illinios, Senator Whipple grew up in College Station, Texas. She attended Rice University, received her BA from the American University in Washington, DC and earned a Master's Degree from the George Washington University.

Senator Whipple is a member of the Board of Directors of the Veterans' Memorial Branch YMCA of Metropolitan Washington and an Honorary Member of the Boards of Scenic Virginia and Reading is Fundamental. She is a member of the Arlington Branch of the American Association of University Women, the Arlington Kiwanis Club, the League of Women Voters, the Arlington Historical Society and the Committee of 100.

A resident of Arlington County since 1964, Mary Margaret Whipple is a member and elder of the Church of the Convenant, Presbyterian. The Senator is married to Thomas S. Whipple and is the mother of two daughters who are graduates of the Arlington Public School System. She is the proud grandmother of three boys and two girls.

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