In a letter released on Tuesday, October 23, retired supreme court justice Sandra Day O’Connor announced a diagnosis of probable Alzheimer’s dementia, and that she will begin stepping down from public life. O’Connor, the first woman to serve on the Supreme Court, was a devoted caregiver to her husband John after his Alzheimer’s diagnosis in 2005. NPR reports the reaction of Chief Justice John Roberts: “I was saddened to learn that Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, like many Americans, faces the challenge of dementia. But I was not at all surprised that she used the occasion of sharing that fact to think of our country first, and to urge an increased commitment to civics education, a cause to which she devoted so much of her time and indomitable energy…no illness or condition can take away the inspiration she provides for those who will follow the many paths she has blazed.” Click here to read NPR’s tribute to her inspiring legacy.