[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 106 (Thursday, August 4, 1994)]
[House]
[Page H]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: August 4, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
                        TRIBUTE TO AILEEN WAGNER

  (Mr. McCURDY asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. McCURDY. Mr. Speaker, a friend of mine in the newspaper business 
sent a news article to me yesterday, on the day the House passed the 
General Aviation Revitalization Act, that reminded me of my earliest 
hero. Because we tend today to destroy our heroes, it is important to 
me to honor the heroic nature of ordinary Americans such as this one.
  This ordinary American, 50 years ago today, piloted her little 
Aeronca aircraft to the second Flying Farmers Convention in Stillwater, 
OK. One of only a handful of women to make the flight, she caused quite 
a stir, and made the local press in addition to Life magazine.
  Today, at 78, she continues to live in Oklahoma, though unable to 
speak due to a series of strokes. I want to send her a message that her 
heroic nature of raising four boys, instilling in them the value of 
hard work and the importance of family, has not been forgotten. Today I 
salute the pioneer spirit of my mother, Aileen Wagner, and the forward 
thinking that led her and my father to employ the use of aircraft on 
their Oklahoma farm 50 years ago. Love you, Mom.

                          ____________________