[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 139 (Wednesday, October 8, 1997)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1977]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      TRIBUTE TO NATALIE GITELMAN

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                         HON. ROBERT T. MATSUI

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                       Wednesday, October 8, 1997

  Mr. MATSUI. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased today to pay tribute to Mrs. 
Natalie Gitelman, for exceptional service to the House of 
Representatives as our first director of the House Child Care Center. 
After a decade of dedicated service, she is retiring.
  A graduate of the University of Massachusetts, Mrs. Gitelman has 
committed herself to working with the most delicate among us, our 
children. Her service and commitment to children dates back to 1953 
when, upon receiving her bachelors degree, Mrs. Gitelman began work as 
a child care worker.
  Mrs. Gitelman began her career as a counselor to children destined 
for foster and adoptive families. Her recruitment endeavors and 
preparatory counseling with natural, foster, and adoptive parents 
ensured homes for children ranging in age from birth through 
adolescence.
  1966 saw the advent of Mrs. Gitelman's career in education. As the 
head teacher at Green Acres School in Rockville, MD, she developed and 
implemented classroom programs for the cooperative school. Over the 
course of her tenure Mrs. Gitelman handled much of the admissions work, 
served on the new director search committee and as one of two staff 
representatives on the board of trustees.
  In 1975, she was named head teacher of the early childhood department 
of Pingry School in Short Hills, NJ and later named director and 
teacher of Prospect Cooperative Nursery School in Mapelwood, NJ. Again 
she was responsible for the development and implementation of the 
department's teaching program and admissions criteria.
  The following 2 years produced two more teaching opportunities for 
Mrs. Gitelman at the Prospect Cooperative Nursery School in Maplewood, 
NJ the Summit Child Care Center in Summit, NJ. And from 1979 until 1984 
Mrs. Gitelman served as one of six education coordinators with the 
Newark Pre-School Council, the Head Start Grantee Agency for Newark, 
NJ.
  Mrs. Gitelman's lifelong endeavor of working with children should not 
obscure her commitment to learning about them. Though she received her 
master of science in education from the Bank Street College of 
Education in 1978 she would continue with nondegree course work on 
early childhood education and its administration for years thereafter.
  In 1984 Mrs. Gitelman was adopted founding director of the United 
Nations Day Care Centre. It was here that Ms. Gitelman could use her 
inherent love of children and well fostered administrative skills to 
construct a model day care program others would strive to emulate.
  In fact, in 1987 Mrs. Gitelman was called upon by the House of 
Representatives to recreate with success a day care program fit for the 
institution and staff it would support.
  Over the past 10 years the House of Representatives Child Care Center 
has become such a place. Mrs. Gitelman's vision of a warm and healthy 
sanctuary for children has provided some respite as well for parents, 
who rest in the knowledge that their children are in a safe and caring 
environment.
  Mr. Speaker, in recognition of HRCCC's success as a premier child day 
care facility and Natalie Gitelman's 10 years of commitment, I ask my 
colleagues to join me in saluting her and wishing her a very happy and 
active retirement.

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