[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 156 (Saturday, November 8, 1997)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E2238]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      TRIBUTE TO MATTIEBELLE WOODS

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. THOMAS M. BARRETT

                              of wisconsin

                    in the house of representatives

                        Friday, November 7, 1997

  Mr. BARRETT of Wisconsin. Mr. Speaker, it is with great pride that I 
pay tribute today to Mattiebelle Woods, on the occasion of her 95th 
birthday. Her many years of community service and dedication to making 
a difference in the lives of people of Milwaukee, are truly notable and 
merit our appreciation and acclaim.
  Mattiebelle was born in Milwaukee on Halloween Day, in 1902. And 
Milwaukee is where she has lived for nearly a century.
  Described as the community's ageless wonder, by the Milwaukee 
Community Journal, Mattiebelle has seen her city through wartime, 
women's suffrage, prohibition, a great depression, a midcentury 
industrial boom, civil rights endeavors, recession, and recovery.
  Mattiebelle is fiercely committee to bringing along generations of 
young women. As the founder the Wisconsin Black Teen Pageant, she has 
ensured that scores of young, black women will have opportunities which 
may never have surfaced without the pageant as a vehicle.
  Today, Mattiebelle remains a director of that pageant, continues in 
her work as a committeewoman, is active in her church, chairs her area 
voter registration efforts, and volunteers regularly at the Clinton 
Rose Senior Center.
  Mr. Speaker, I urge you and my colleagues in the U.S. House of 
Representatives to join me in a salute to Mattiebelle Woods, and to 
join me in sending her best wishes as she begins her 96th year. 
Recently, when Mattiebelle was asked by a newspaper reporter just how 
she continues to do all she does, Mattiebelle responded with ``I'll be 
OK. God is looking out for me.'' Mr. Speaker, I would like Mattiebelle 
to know that we are looking out for her, too.

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