[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 36 (Monday, March 19, 2001)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E389-E390]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                           MRS. ORA MAE HARN

                                 ______
                                 

                             HON. JIM KOLBE

                               of arizona

                    in the house of representatives

                         Monday, March 19, 2001

  Mr. KOLBE. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor Mrs. Ora Mae Harn, a 
resident of the town of Marana, Arizona for the past forty-one years. 
Ora Mae is being honored on the occasion of her retirement last year 
from the Marana Health Center.
  After arriving in Marana, Ora Mae worked for the Marana Unified 
School District from 1962-74 as a bus driver, a cafeteria cook and a 
warehouse assistant. Subsequently, she spent a quarter century at the 
Marana Health Center, serving as director of community relations (1975-
79), social services director (1979-91), and finally as director until 
her retirement last year.
  Starting in 1985, Ora Mae was a member of the Marana Town Council, 
and served as Marana's first female Mayor from 1990-95 and again from 
1997-99. Her constant work to cultivate lasting professional 
relationships with regional, state and federal officials benefited 
Marana in many ways.
  She has served as president of the Arizona Women in Municipal 
Government, as a member of the Pima Council on Aging (1983-87), as an 
active representative to the Pima Association of Governments as early 
as 1990 (including serving as its Chair in 1999) and has represented 
Marana in the League of Arizona Cities and Towns as early as 1992.
  Ora Mae has been the major force in bringing floor control projects 
to Marana and starting the Pima County Santa Cruz Bank Protection 
Project. She also played a role in the levee project, which was 
completed and dedicated last year, and she was instrumental in bringing 
a federally funded housing program to Marana, earning her several 
awards from the Community Development Block Grant Program for her 
outstanding leadership and community involvement.
  Ora Mae has been involved with a large number of community projects 
such as Marana's Founders' Day Committee, the Sister Cities Program, 
Yoem Pueblo Rehabilitation Project, the Lot Beautification Program, The 
Great American Smokeout, and The Graffiti Abatement Program. She 
founded the Marana Food Bank in 1985 and is currently its volunteer 
director. And she continues to be extremely involved with her community 
by volunteering for projects as varied as reading to

[[Page E390]]

elementary school students and church-sponsored activities.
  Married for almost fifty years to Gerald Harn, who passed away last 
month, she is the mother of two daughters and a son and the proud 
grandmother of five. Since coming to Marana, she has been an active 
member of the Faith Community Church congregation and has volunteered 
for numerous church-sponsored activities.
  Mr. Speaker, I'd like to commend Mrs. Ora Mae Harn for her four 
decades of tireless service to the town of Marana and wish her well in 
her retirement, which I suspect won't really be a retirement.

                          ____________________