I hope you can help my family make a decision. My mother was a member of the House of Delegates in Maryland, and was a member of the Montgomery County Planning Board at the time of her death.
We have received word that a park will be named in her memory.
Is it appropriate for us to have the sign name her as The Honorable Jean Neville? Or is that not appropriate? What is the appropriate title?
— Dierdre Neville
Dear Ms. Neville:
This is a wonderful honor for your mother and your family.
The Honorable is a courtesy title used in direct address with the person. When their name is used in something other than direct address The Honorable is not used. In a letter she is addressed as The Honorable Jean Neville but in text she would be referred to in the third person as Jean Neville and identified as a member of the Maryland House of Delegates and the Montgomery County Planning Board.
Thus most places named for a person are named simply (Name of Person) Park.
Such as Neville Park or Jean Neville Park
For example:
John Quincy Adams National Park
(Then in text they say): This house was the birthplace of John Quincy Adams, the sixth president, son of John and Abigail, who was born in…
Eisenhower Park
(Then in text they say): The park was rededicated on October 13, 1969, as the Dwight D. Eisenhower Memorial Park at a ceremony attended by the 34th President’s grandson Dwight D. Eisenhower II and his wife Julie Nixon Eisenhower…
George Bush Presidential Library
(Then in text they say): George Herbert Walker Bush was born on June 12, 1924, in Milton, Massachusetts, to Dorothy Walker Bush and Prescott Bush (Republican Senator Connecticut 1952-1962). Mr. Bush graduated from Phillips Academy, Andover, Massachusetts on his 18th birthday, June 12, 1942. That same day, he enlisted in the U.S. Navy as a Seaman 2nd Class.
– Robert Hickey www.formsofaddress.info
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