[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 117 (Thursday, August 18, 1994)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: August 18, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
              CONGRATULATIONS TO MRS. CARMEL DOYLE SLEVIN

                                 ______


                            HON. KEN CALVERT

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                       Thursday, August 18, 1994

  Mr. CALVERT. Mr. Speaker, the 20th century is rapidly drawing to a 
close. It has been a period of astounding change--an era that has seen 
more progress in more fields of human endeavor than all previous years 
of man's existence on Earth. And, if there is any one country that has 
shaped and molded the 20th century in its own image, it is the United 
States of America. Clearly, this has been an American century.
  In just a few days--on August 23, 1994, a California woman who has 
lived in every decade of this American century will celebrate her 90th 
birthday. To truly understand the reasons for America's greatness, we 
must understand lives such as hers, because she personifies the 
American spirit and the American dream.
  Mrs. Carmel Margaret Doyle Slevin was born in her mother's home in 
San Francisco in 1904. Teddy Roosevelt was President and most vehicles 
were described by the number of horses rather than the amount of 
horsepower.
  At the age of 19, Miss Doyle took her first job as a schoolteacher. 
She had to commute by horseback to a rural school outside of San 
Francisco in the hills of San Mateo County. It was a one-room 
schoolhouse with children of all different ages.
  But, Carmel was a city girl at heart and returned the next year to 
take a job teaching in her hometown. She passed the San Francisco city 
teacher's exam and taught from 1925-43, resigning to give birth to her 
second child.
  During the 1940's, 1950's, and 1960's, Carmel and her husband, Edward 
M. Slevin, lived the American dream. They worked hard, raised a family 
and participated actively in their church and community. And, they made 
sure that their children, Edward J. Slevin and Patricia Carmel Slevin 
Mantoani, would have even greater opportunities than they had.
  After her children were grown, Mrs. Slevin returned to teaching 
school, once again, sharing her knowledge and experience with a new 
generation of Americans. She continued teaching until required to 
retire at age 55.
  Since the death of her husband in 1973, Carmel has kept active with 
the two most important things in her life--her family and her religion. 
She has eight grandchildren and 6 great grandchildren.
  Mrs. Carmel Margaret Doyle Slevin has witnessed more change then most 
of us will have the opportunity to see. She rode on horseback to her 
first job and now watches space flights on television. She read about 
the horror of World War I, saw newsreels about World War II, and 
watched as the Vietnam war was fought in living color on her 
television.
  But, we congratulate Mrs. Slevin on her 90th birthday, not because 
she has witnessed almost the entire American century, but because she 
has contributed so much of her talent and spirit to making the 21st 
century the next American century.

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