[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 116 (Thursday, August 1, 1996)]
[Senate]
[Page S9424]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       TRIBUTE TO NINA H. REEVES

  Mr. HEFLIN. Mr. President, my friend Nina Reeves will soon be 
retiring from her position as youth director of the North Alabama 
Conference of the United Methodist Church after nearly 50 years. She 
will be leaving her post in August 1996 after the conference's 
international peace camp. The official publication of the North Alabama 
Conference, the Voice, published a tributary interview with Nina in its 
April issue, saying,

       If the North Alabama Conference has an icon, then Nina H. 
     Reeves definitely would be that person * * * From thousands 
     of youth and hundreds of events, the ministry of Nina Reeves 
     stretches from the lives of each youth she has touched 
     throughout the years.

  Nina Reeves grew up in Yazoo City, MS and was reared as a 
Presbyterian. She went on to attend Millsaps College and later graduate 
school at the University of Alabama, earning a master's degree in 
physical education and recreation. After working part time for the 
Wesley Foundation, she joined the North Alabama Conference at the early 
age of 22. She had planned to be a teacher, but, even though she didn't 
know that much about the Methodist Church at the time, took the 
position as youth director at the persistent urging of Brother V.H. 
Hawkins, who vowed to teach her everything she needed to know. Hawkins 
had seen her at work leading folk dancing, story-telling, and 
recreation at a Tuscaloosa Methodist Church. She calls herself the 
oldest living youth worker.
  Each year, Nina has brought a large group of Methodist youth from all 
over north Alabama to Washington each year. While in the capital, they 
met with Government leaders to get acquainted with public affairs and 
the political process. They also visited the United Nations 
headquarters in New York City. The annual breakfast town meetings with 
the Alabama congressional delegation at the Capitol complex were truly 
outstanding and informative. I was always impressed with these young 
people, since they seemed to have a genuine interest in Government and 
world affairs. They also tended to be intellectually curious and quite 
progressive in their thinking, believing that they had the ability to 
make a real difference in their communities, State, Nation, and world. 
Nina Reeves deserves much of the credit for instilling these kinds of 
positive attitudes in the youth to whom she ministered and offered 
guidance over the years.
  I am pleased to commend and congratulate Nina Reeves for her nearly 
50 years of service to the Methodist youth of north Alabama. She has 
been their spiritual guide, their teacher, and their friend. She will 
be greatly missed, and never really replaced, but her immeasurable 
contributions and life of service in shaping the leaders of tomorrow 
will never be forgotten. I wish her all the best as she enters the 
well-deserved retirement phase of her life.

                          ____________________