[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 72 (Wednesday, June 5, 2002)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5034-S5035]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     WOMAN OF MONTANA ESSAY WINNERS

 Mr. BURNS. Mr. President, I would like to congratulate the 
winners of the American Association of University Women ``Woman of 
Montana'' essay contest, Gina Young. Her essay is entitled ``Rehbein.'' 
I also congratulate Maureen Sullivan. Her essay is entitled ``Effie 
Dockstander Holmes: A Woman for All Seasons.''
  The essays follow:

                                Rehbein

       When I think of a woman who has dedicated most of her life 
     helping Montana citizens, I think of my grandmother, Mary 
     Alice Rehbein. For fifty years, she has served the state of 
     Montana in the field of public health. During her years of 
     work and dedication, she has earned the respect of people 
     allover Montana, including myself. From her I have learned 
     how to set goals, to accept the differences of others, and to 
     be responsible for myself.
       R represents responsibility. Mary Alice Rehbein was born in 
     Jamestown, North Dakota, July 20, 1918, to Ed and Mary Louise 
     Barnhart. She had only nine short years to learn the 
     responsibilities and lessons of life from her mother. At the 
     age of nine, Mary Alice lost her mother to breast cancer. 
     After that tragic death, her father could not stand the loss 
     and moved away from Jamestown leaving Mary Alice to be raised 
     by very strict, practical, but loving grandparents. Her 
     grandparents felt that an education was an absolute must. 
     Mary Alice knew that an education was the only way she would 
     be able to survive in the future.
       E stands for her life-long education. Mary Alice Rehbein 
     graduated from high school in 1937. She attended business 
     college for two years while selling insurance. Mary Alice 
     realized that she was not going to be very successful at this 
     career because she was a woman. This was the time in Mary 
     Alice's life that she needed to re-evaluate her career choice 
     and money situation. She finally withdrew the last seventy-
     five dollars remaining of her mother's life insurance policy. 
     Mary Alice found that she could enroll in nursing school for 
     exactly that amount, so she jumped at the chance of a 
     lifetime and

[[Page S5035]]

     invested her last penny in her education. Mary Alice's 
     lifetime of nursing and honors began upon the completion of 
     her nursing degree in 1943.
       H symbolizes Mary Alice Rehbein's various honors. She has 
     been recognized and received numerous awards throughout her 
     years of service. Some of her honors include Sidney's ``Woman 
     of the Year'' award; the Montana State Department of Health's 
     Public Health Nursing Award for Outstanding and Meritorious 
     Work; an award from the Montana State Mental Health 
     Association; an award from the National League of Nursing 
     Board; and the Dr. Mary Souls Nursing Award, which is the 
     highest honor bestowed on a nurse in Montana and North 
     Dakota. Mary Alice has also held many prestigious offices. 
     She served as a representative to the National League of 
     Nursing Advisory Board for the Western Region of the United 
     States; held the position of the vice-president for the State 
     Nurses Association; and is currently the President of the 
     Montana Nursing League and a member of the Governor's 
     Advisory Board for Aging. Each honor and position has 
     recognized her leadership and the services she has given to 
     public health for the state of Montana. Mary Alice Rehbein is 
     proud of her honors and offices, but she feels the greatest 
     reward has been to provide beneficial health care to the 
     citizens of the community.
       B portrays how beneficial Mary Alice has been to people of 
     Montana. She was the Richland County Health Nurse for forty-
     five years. During her years of working she saved lives, 
     helped deliver babies, gave shots to patients for illness and 
     immunizations, checked children's posture and teeth, 
     administered medical attention to the rural areas with orders 
     from the doctors, provided nursing care to schools, monitored 
     blood pressures, and provided home health care for those in 
     need. She has traveled to every state, with the exception of 
     Maine and Alaska, as well as to hospitals in Australia, New 
     Zealand, and Russia. In each of her expeditions she studied, 
     shared information, and acquired knowledge about the 
     availability and kinds of community health. Mary Alice 
     Rehbein has enjoyed her nursing career.
       E denotes all of her efforts and enjoyment. Mary Alice has 
     spent a lifetime providing nursing service and teaching 
     people about health care. Nothing has been more fulfilling 
     than to see the joy of people, at any age, caring about 
     their health, says Mary Alice, and to employ new nursing 
     ideas.
       I exemplifies the innovative nursing ideas Mary Alice has 
     brought to Eastern Montana. Besides the general health 
     program that Mary Alice Rehbein ran, she was responsible for 
     the Alcohol and Drug Abuse program until it had funding of 
     its own. She ran the monthly, blood pressure clinics for 
     Richland County and was active in finding ways to provide 
     immunization clinics to isolated residents. In the 1950's, 
     she began encouraging the Mental Health professionals of 
     Montana to provide services to people in out-lying areas of 
     Eastern Montana. She has been instrumental in providing home 
     health care to many people who could not get or afford health 
     care. In addition, she provided hospice care. Mary Alice says 
     that nursing is one profession that will not be replaced with 
     total technology, since people will always need ``hands on'' 
     nursing care.
       N depicts the profession of nursing. Mary Alice Rehbein is 
     the oldest, insured, and licensed nurse in the state of 
     Montana. After her numerous years devoted to helping the 
     residents of Montana, she has retired as Richland County 
     Public Health Nurse. In her free time she visits lonely 
     people who do not have families to talk to, she looks in on 
     people who need nursing care, she continues to stay up-to-
     date on the latest nursing trends, and she still makes time 
     to take blood pressures in her small community.
       Out of all of the women who have helped the state of 
     Montana, Mary Alice Rehbein has been one of the most 
     remarkable. She has dedicated her life to helping the people 
     of Montana and has instilled in me the belief that the true 
     treasure of life is a person's health. Therefore, I believe 
     Mary Alice REHBEIN is one of the Great Montana Women.
                                  ____



            Effie Dockstader Holmes, A Woman for All Seasons

       The door flew open after a sharp knock and a young man 
     burst in. ``Effie, come quick! There's been a terrible 
     accident.'' My grandmother, Effie Clark Dockstader Holmes, 
     quickly gathered up her medical bag and some clean sheets and 
     set out on a run with the young man. My grandma was a 
     registered nurse, the original one woman QRU for Bigfork. 
     Townsfolk came to Effie with all sorts of medical problems, 
     especially for emergencies or accidents. Over the years Effie 
     dispensed comfort, consolation and healing, saving lives and 
     improving the quality of life for many Bigfork residents. 
     Effie never failed to respond.
       One tragic incident is still very much alive in her memory. 
     ``The little girl just lay there. It didn't look good; it was 
     very serious.'' The child had been accidentally run over by a 
     family friend. My grandma could see that there was little she 
     could do herself for the child's massive injuries. But it 
     would be too late when an ambulance got to Bigfork. So Effie 
     started to Kalispell with the little girl in her car. However 
     the journey was short when the child died on the way to the 
     hospital. My grandmother delivered the devastating news to 
     the family. ``It was very hard, and I shouldn't have been the 
     one to do it, but no one else wanted to . . . .'' My grandma 
     received the Bigfork Citizen of the Year Award in recognition 
     of her contributions to her community.
       In 1917, my grandmother and her family left Kansas for 
     their new home in Montana. The long, arduous trek in a Model-
     T Ford took almost a year. The Clarks homesteaded a parcel of 
     land on the east shore of Flathead Lake. After attending 
     grade school in Bigfork, Effie had to live with a family in 
     Kalispell during the week while going to Flathead High School 
     since the trip from Bigfork was too long to make each day.
       My grandma went on to college at Sacred Heart School of 
     Nursing in Spokane, Washington after high school. Bigfork 
     held a dance at the Town Hall to celebrate the momentous 
     event of Effie's departure for college. She was a trailblazer 
     for her time. After graduation, she took a nursing position 
     in Missoula, returning to her beloved Montana. When her Aunt 
     Effie became seriously ill, my grandma quit her job to care 
     for her aunt in Bigfork, staying on with her uncle after her 
     aunt's death. Amazingly, my grandmother still lives in that 
     same house on Electric Avenue where she took care of her Aunt 
     Effie.
       My grandmother was introduced to James Dockstader at a 
     dance. When Effie taught Jim to dance, she had no idea this 
     would be the man who would teach her the many lessons of 
     love. My grandparents settled into a farming life, close to 
     the earth and raised three children in Bigfork, each of whom 
     still lives in the area with their families. My grandfather 
     died from cancer on November 20, 1988 at home.
       Few people get the chance to revisit their past and to 
     choose the ``road not taken,'' but my grandma did. It all 
     began when the day of Bigfork's Whitewater Festival in 1995 
     proved to be filled with shock, memories of a past romance, 
     and the promise of true love rekindled.
       My grandma recalls the day when Ernest Holmes swept her off 
     her feet for the second time in amazingly vivid detail. Effie 
     was standing outside her house in downtown Bigfork when a 
     stranger asked if she knew Effie Clark. My grandmother 
     replied, ``I'm Effie.'' ``I'm Prunie,'' Ernest responded, 
     using his old high school nickname. Without hesitation, 
     the two embraced repeatedly and began joyously reminiscing 
     right on Electric Avenue. Their reunion continued over 
     lunch.
       From that day my grandma was a different person, happier 
     and more full of life than I had ever seen her. This man had 
     long before left a mark on my grandmother's life and heart. 
     Prunie and Effie had been sweethearts when she attended high 
     school in Missoula for one year while her father was working 
     there. Effie returned to Bigfork when her father's job ended 
     the next June. Effie and Prunie were pinned, going steady, 
     and promised to remain true to one another despite the 
     distance. However, an unfortunate misunderstanding broke the 
     two apart, seemingly forever. Ernie was determined to mend 
     the situation and get Effie back, making the long, difficult 
     trip from Missoula to Bigfork in his Model T. However, my 
     grandmother's mind was set and she refused even to come to 
     the door and hear his explanation and apology. Her resolve 
     led to a separation of sixty-six years that was finally 
     bridged that Whitewater Day.
       After years of raising their own families, Effie and Prunie 
     were finally together again. A whirlwind romance rekindled 
     their love and passion. My grandmother married Ernest Holmes 
     on August 4, 1995, her 85th birthday, and I was the maid of 
     honor! The day was beautiful, the church was filled to 
     overflowing with friends, family and townsfolk, my 
     grandmother was stunning, and it was one of the happiest days 
     of both of our lives. My new grandfather spent five wonderful 
     years with us before he died in April of 2000.
       Sitting in her chair among the many dolls she has made and 
     collected over the years, with antiques younger than she, my 
     grandmother smiles and laughs with the ease of a child and 
     the wisdom of experience. She has lived through much and seen 
     great changes, learning from it all. Effie Dockstader Holmes 
     is a treasure of Montana, a woman to be remembered always. An 
     intelligent, independent woman who fought against the odds at 
     a time when females usually stayed home, my grandmother is 
     truly a modern pioneer woman. She melded the life of 
     homemaker with the career of caretaker of the sick and 
     injured, her only rewards the thanks of those she helped and 
     the knowledge that she had made a difference.

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