[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 107 (Tuesday, July 27, 1999)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1662]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


               IN MEMORY OF THE LATE MRS. ERIS L. RUDMAN

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. JERRY WELLER

                              of illinois

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, July 27, 1999

  Mr. WELLER. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor Mrs. Eris L. Rudman 
and the preserved prairie named in her memory located in Frankfort, 
Illinois.
  Forty-five years ago, Mrs. Rudman made Frankfort, Illinois her home. 
She had just served our country in the Korean War as 1st Lieutenant in 
the U.S. Army Nursing Corps and received combat decoration while 
serving in an evacuation hospital. Upon arriving in Frankfort, Mrs. 
Rudman actively developed and maintained the village's first park long 
before it was acquired officially by the park district. She also 
indulged in gardening and the people of Frankfort can still appreciate 
her toils by strolling down Nebraska and Locust streets and gazing at 
the crab apple trees she and volunteers had planted years ago.
  Her community spirit did not end with the environment. Mrs. Rudman 
served on the Frankfort Planning Commission for sixteen years. She also 
played an integral role in the publishing and editing of the Frankfort 
News, a weekly community newspaper, for twenty-three years. In 1984, 
Mrs. Rudman was named Frankfort's first Citizen of the Year. She was 
also Grand Marshall of the Frankfort Fall Festival Parade in 1994. 
Sadly, Frankfort lost this civic minded patriot three years ago in 
1996.
  The Eris L. Rudman Prairie in nearly four acres of land located south 
of the Frankfort Public Library parking lot. It was recently planted 
with a variety of spring and fall blooming flowers. There are 3,100 
plants in all which have been complimented with six different kinds of 
grasses.
  Mr. Speaker, I believe it is fitting and appropriate to honor the 
life of Mrs. Eris L. Rudman, the years of her community building 
activity, and the prairie which bares her name.

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