In a playful way, she linked our ambitions, and wrote in my "Eagle" yearbook, "Hope that someday I'll need a good Press Sec. @ the White House and that you'll be around to fill the position."

After we graduated, she went to the University of Texas in Austin, I went east to Princeton, and our paths rarely touched from there. She rode a political rocket for the next 15 years while I yo-yo'd up and down in journalism. We saw each other the last time at our 10th high school reunion in 1986. Friends in Texas kept me informed of her career through press clips (named a Best Legislator by Texas Monthly, the publication that was my career goal) and campaign materials. I even have a letter from her from February 1991, after she became the Texas Railroad Commissioner. I saved that and everything else in a Lena file.

Her downfall in 1992, when political opponents revealed she had lied about graduating from UT, is well documented. That got her on the cover of Texas Monthly, as well as a profile in Mirabella magazine, for which a reporter contacted me. She sucked it up and kept living, and didn't hide.

The abrupt end of her political career is the great imponderable of politics, along with her early death. Had that transcript scandal never happened, I could reasonably see her winning the accolades as the history-making presidential candidate this year -- first woman, first Hispanic, name the permutation. Her skills were that sharp. The 1992 Democratic speech, which I never saw in those pre-Internet days, was the logical launching pad for service in the Clinton Administration. The future had no limits, until her own limitations became visible.

In 2001, the Class of 1976 had its 25th reunion. Many of us gathered at a classmate's home in McAllen, east of Mission. Lena was already sick by then and we called her in Austin. We passed the phone around to catch up on news and give her our wishes for a speedy recovery. That was the last time I spoke with Lena. She did not attend the 30th reunion in 2006 but, as always, her huge, LBJ-like spirit hovered around us.

After I got the text message last night with the news, I wrote back my first thought, "She hung on for a long time."

From the Governor's office:

Texas Governor Rick Perry directed that flags be flown at half-staff in memory of former Texas Railroad Commissioner and State Representative Lena Guerrero. He also issued the following statement:

"Lena Guerrero was a bright, passionate woman who worked hard to represent the interests of her constituents both as a representative and as Railroad Commissioner. We served together in the Texas House of Representatives, and I came to know and admire her both as an esteemed colleague and a friend. Her fellow Democrats were surprised at our friendship and her endorsement of my candidacy, but she was the sort of person who placed loyalty and principle ahead of politics."

"Our state is a better place for her time spent in it and she will be greatly missed. Anita and I extend our deepest sympathies and prayers to her family during this time of great loss."