By Madhuri Dey
Columbia, South Carolina, Mar 12, (THAINDIAN NEWS) The death of a noted former legislator, someone who was considered as something of a trailblazer in her field, has left the United States political scenario shell shocked. It is not so much the fact of her death that comes as a shock, but more the manner in which she died. Juanita Goggins had always been noted for her political moves, and it indeed comes as a shock when she is discovered in her apartment, frozen to death, unable to withstand the unexpected chill that fell on the country during the winter.

Apparently, no one in the neighborhood was aware of her existence in the vicinity, and she had been forgotten as one of the most remarkable legislators of her day. She was found to be living alone, in an apartment she had got for rent. The most horrible part of the story, more than the manner of her death, is that anything amiss was not noted by the neighbors even after a week had passed since she was last seen. Apparently, none of those who lived in her vicinity knew that she had been a prominent political figure once, was the first black woman to have made it to the South Carolina Legislature, nor anything else about her glorious history.

The neighbors reported that for the last few years of her life, Juanita Goggins had refused to take any help offered to her by the neighbors. She had also apparently receded more and more into herself, and was not much in contact with the others living in her vicinity. She reportedly did not even take any help from her son and ex-husband, though they made numerous attempts.