[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 37 (Thursday, March 20, 1997)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E534]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




               HAPPY 100TH BIRTHDAY SIMONE M. STEINBRONER

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. JANE HARMAN

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, March 20, 1997

  Ms. HARMAN. Mr. Speaker, I rise to pay tribute to Simone M. 
Steinbroner of Manhattan Beach, CA, who will be celebrating her 100th 
birthday on April 1.
  Simone was born in the tiny village of Cognac, France, on April 1, 
1897, the oldest of five children of Paul Jean Mounier and Jeanne Praud 
Mounier. She moved with her family several times as a young girl, first 
to Paris and then, with the outbreak of World War I to La Rochelle 
where her father was employed as an interpreter. At the age of 16, 
Simone became the youngest entrant to teachers college, graduating in 
1917.
  It was on her summer vacation from teaching on the small coastal 
island of St. Pierre d'Oleron that her mother invited two American 
soldiers to dinner. There Simone met her future husband, Arthur 
Steinbroner, a sergeant in the American Expeditionary Force, and fell 
in love. Arthur and Simone set their wedding for August 1, but on July 
5 received the upsetting news that Arthur was to be sent back to the 
United States the next day. It would be 18 months before enough money 
could be saved for Simone's passage to America.
  Simone left France on January 9, 1921, arriving in Los Angeles, then 
a sleepy town with fewer than 200,000 residents, on January 24. She and 
Arthur married on February 3, 1921, and had seven children in 9 years. 
Arthur passed away suddenly in 1948.
  Simone has lived in Los Angeles County for 76 years and has a total 
of 78 living descendants; 8 children, 28 grandchildren, 38 great-
grandchildren, and 4 great-great grandchildren, with 2 more expected 
this year. She still maintains an active pace, teaching French to 
private students, playing the piano, dancing, reading, and 
corresponding to her numerous friends and progeny. As a member of the 
Legion of Mary, she regularly visits local nursing homes to comfort the 
sick and elderly. She is an inspiration to them all, all of whom are 
younger than her, and, in hearing her story, she is an inspiration to 
me as well.
  Mr. Speaker, I ask that my colleagues join me in congratulating 
Simone and in wishing her a happy 100th birthday.

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