Jacqueline Cox Bromley, secretary to members of Congress, dies at 93

Jacqueline Cox Bromley, 93, a former Cinnaminson resident who served as a secretary to members of Congress for a quarter of a century, died Wednesday, May 5, of renal failure at Concordia of Tampa, a Florida nursing facility.

Mrs. Bromley was a Washingtonian, born and raised, the only child of Raymond and Mary Cox.

After graduating from Anacostia High School in Washington, she went to work on Capitol Hill as a secretary to House members, a job she carried out for 25 years, said her son Wayne Bromley Jr.

One of her bosses was a freshman congressman named John F. Kennedy, who would go on to become a U.S. senator and, later, President of the United States. Another of her bosses was U.S. Rep. George P. Miller, a California Democrat.

Mrs. Bromley was not one to talk shop at home, according to her son. “She didn’t come home and expound on this guy or that guy,” her son said. If anything, she took what others might view as the glamour of government in stride as just part of her job.

“When you’re on Capitol Hill your whole life, the names you see in the paper, you see everyday,” he said. “You’re not particularly enamored by seeing a congressman or a senator. They’re everywhere. You see them all the time.”

Her son said her demeanor was also a reflection of her character — someone who kept her priorities straight.

“I would say her main focus was that she had myself and my two brothers, and she did a great job raising us,” her son said. “She was someone who would sacrifice her time and things she might want to do for us. I always admired her work ethic and devotion to family.”

“She was very self-sufficient,” her son added. “She tried to instill in us self-sufficiency.”

For Mrs. Bromley, government in some ways was a shared family experience.

“My whole family was from Washington, D.C. They all worked on Capitol Hill,” Wayne Bromley said.

His mother’s mother, for example, worked as a phone operator at the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

In high school, Mrs. Bromley met Wayne Bromley Sr., a fellow Washingtonian. They married shortly after high school.

“My father was a page boy,” said Wayne Bromley Jr., running errands and assisting members of the House of Representatives. “He grew up on Capitol Hill. He went to the special school for Congressional pages, who traditionally delivery paperwork, run errands and assist members of Congress. Then he went to college and law school and became a lobbyist” for the coal industry.

After the couple retired from their government jobs, they moved to Kentucky for about 10 years, where Mr. Bromley practiced law, his son said.

When he died, Mrs. Bromley moved to Cinnaminson, N.J., to be closer to her sons who were residing in the area.

When the brothers eventually moved to Florida, Wayne Bromley Jr. said, his mother went to live with his brother, Clay in Tampa, and then to a nursing facility.

In addition to her sons, Mrs. Bromley is survived by four grandchildren, four great grandchildren, and other relatives. Her husband and another son, Brett, died before her.

A private service will be held at a later date in Washington, D.C.