CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY, N.Y. — As Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg lies in repose, former Chautauqua Institution leaders take a moment to pause and reflect on her 2013 visit.

What You Need To Know

  • Ruth Bader Ginsburg lectured at Chautauqua Institution in July 2013
  • She also took a private tour of the Robert H. Jackson Center, another former Supreme Court justice 
  • Ginsburg is one a handful of justices who've visited the center
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"Very saddened to hear the news. She was a human being with a purpose. She also had a charming, kind of quirky sense of humor.  Day in, day out for 32 years, I stood in awe of the people that came through Chautauqua and how much they got out of standing on that platform," said Tom Becker, retired Chautauqua Institution president.

One of those people, says Becker, was Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who lectured there the summer of 2013 during crime and punishment week. 

The late Supreme Court Justice was not permitted to talk about her work, so instead she lectured about the law and her other passion, opera.

"I was thrilled that she was there. How completely curious she was. And I wouldn't say reserved but quiet and thoughtful. She's not a performer in the sense that she's looking for a big crowd to dazzle," said Becker.

Becker says Ginsburg also attended a performance of Romeo and Juliet, and visited the President's cottage where some of the singers performed for her.

"She listens actively and her conversations are remarkable. There was great joy in her life and she admired beauty, she admired excellence, she admired discipline, she admired a certain amount of order. Equality under the law," said Becker.

"She was a trailblazer and a wonderful person as well," said Sherra Babcock, retired Chautauqua Institution VP of Education.

Babcock sat next to Ginsburg during the opera performance. 

She also helped orchestrate Ginsburg's visit.

"Because I had such admiration for her, I was a little afraid of her and I was also just thrilled that she was there. I can't even describe it, but I can still, when you ask me, I can still feel it," said Babcock.

Babcock was also with Ginsburg in Jamestown during a private tour of the center named for former Supreme Court Justice Robert H. Jackson.

"She was honored to be here, she said so. She was very interested," said Babcock.

Ginsburg joins Sandra O'Connor, John Roberts, Anthony Kennedy and the late William Rehnquist on the list of justices who've visited the center.