[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 19 (Wednesday, February 3, 1999)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E126]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




            50TH ANNIVERSARY OF STEVE AND ELEANOR ZARUTSKIE

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. BENJAMIN A. GILMAN

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                      Wednesday, February 3, 1999

  Mr. GILMAN. Mr. Speaker, I wish to take this opportunity to call to 
the attention of our colleagues two remarkable residents of New York 
State who are celebrating their fiftieth wedding anniversary this 
coming weekend.
  Steve and Eleanor Zarutskie settled in Newburgh, NY, soon after their 
marriage in 1949, and have remained there ever since. They are both 
natives of the anthracite coal mining region of eastern Pennsylvania, 
both of their fathers having been coal miners. They have known each 
other since childhood. Eleanor was born in the small community of 
Frackville, and Steve in the even smaller adjacent community of 
Gilberton. Steve and Eleanor both graduated from Gilberton (PA) High 
School on June 6, 1944. Steve was class president, but his oration was 
interrupted by members of the audience leaving the auditorium to hear 
the latest radio bulletins on the D-Day invasion of Normandy, which 
took place earlier that same day.
  With World War II in full swing, Steve enlisted in the Navy soon 
after graduation and asked Eleanor to wait for him. She went to work 
for the post office in Gilberton while he served in the south Pacific. 
Finally, upon his return from overseas and his military discharge, they 
were married in Maizeville, PA, on February 6, 1949.
  Having spent their honeymoon visiting relatives in Orange County, New 
York, they decided they liked the scenic beauty of the mid Hudson 
valley, the employment opportunities of this crossroads of the 
northeast, and the friendliness of our New Yorkers enough to move 
permanently to our region. They settled in Newburgh during the summer 
of 1949, and soon became Orange County natives. Their family was 
extended by the birth of two sons, Andrew in 1950 and Stephen in 1954.
  Mr. Speaker, in today's climate when commitment seems to have become 
passe, we can all join in our admiration and respect for Steve and 
Eleanor Zarutskie who worked as a team to raise their family throughout 
the trials and tribulations of the second half of the twentieth 
century.
  I invite my colleagues to join in extending our congratulations on 
this milestone occasion to Steve & Eleanor Zarutskie and with best 
wishes for health and happiness in the years ahead.

                          ____________________