[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 94 (Tuesday, June 29, 1999)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1422]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




        CONGRATULATING THE WATERS FAMILY ON 50 YEARS OF MARRIAGE

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. JOHN CONYERS, JR.

                              of michigan

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, June 29, 1999

  Mr. CONYERS. Mr. Speaker, Dr. Maurice Waters, recently a Professor of 
Political Science at Wayne State University in Detroit, and his wife, 
Dr. Elinor Waters, former Director of Oakland University's Continuum 
Center in Rochester, MI, are a most extraordinary couple. This past 
Saturday, they celebrated their 50th Wedding Anniversary and given 
their activities and vigor, it is conceivable that they are just now 
hitting their stride. They may epitomize the adage of a rolling stone 
gathering no moss.
  I have known Maury Waters and his family for a number of years. He 
presently has Professor Emeritus status at Wayne State and has moved 
from the Detroit area to Chevy Chase. During his nearly 40 years at 
Wayne State, he not only taught political science as an assistant and 
then as a tenured Professor--specializing in International Relations--
but he managed to author five books, eleven major articles and book 
chapters and dozens of conference papers. While in Detroit, he was a 
board member and chairman of the Center for Peace and Conflict, which 
is affiliated with Wayne. He also taught at the University of 
Wisconsin, at Antioch College in Ohio and at the University of the West 
Indies, in Kingston, Jamaica. Dr. Waters was also a Foreign Policy 
Associate under the Rockefeller Foundation as a Research Scholar at the 
United Nations.
  Beyond teaching at Oakland University and directing its Continuum 
Center, Elly Waters has also authored numerous books and professional 
articles and is a nationally acclaimed expert in the field of 
counseling older people and adult career development. She worked at the 
Merrill-Palmer Institute in Detroit, at the Fels Institute in Yellow 
Springs, OH, and the Industrial Relations Center of the University of 
Chicago and the Michigan Civil Rights Commission. Dr. Waters has also 
served on numerous national boards including the American Counseling 
Association and the National Board for Certified Counselors and was 
President of the Association for Adult Development and Aging.
  After ``retiring'' for a few years and moving to the Washington, DC 
area, they could have rested on their laurels and taken it easy, but 
that is not their style. Elly continues as a training consultant, 
serving on national boards and accepting speaking assignments. Maury 
pursued his interest in the United Nations and is now a member of the 
board of the United Nations Association of the National Capital Area. 
Then, as the Clinton Impeachment proceedings began to take place, Maury 
approached me to express serious concerns about certain constitutional 
and precedential implications of where the House was going. He then 
said he would assist me on Capitol Hill with this historical matter. 
His advice proved so valuable that I coaxed him out of his ostensive 
retirement and hired him as a parttime Senior Advisor.
  In addition to their full and active professional careers, Maury and 
Elly had three children, George, Rob, and Judy. They are also blessed 
with two grandchildren: Caitlin, who lives here in the D.C. area, and 
Joshua, in California. Maury and Elly have become bi-coastal 
grandparents, traveling frequently. Mr. Speaker, perhaps the lesson to 
be learned from the Doctors Waters is that intellectual and 
professional activity, supported by a loving family, can keep two 
people young and contribute to a long and fruitful marriage such as 
this one that has succeeded for half a century. My congratulations to 
them both.

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