[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 107 (Friday, July 18, 2003)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1533-E1534]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




TRIBUTE TO BARBARA C. SERENA ON HER RETIREMENT FROM THE DICKINSON-IRON 
                        COUNTY HEALTH DEPARTMENT

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. BART STUPAK

                              of michigan

                    in the house of representatives

                         Friday, July 18, 2003

  Mr. STUPAK. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to say thank you and pay 
tribute to one of the hardest working public employees ever seen in my 
1st Congressional District.
  Barbara Serena retired from the Dickinson-Iron County Health 
Department in June of this year, after almost 26 years serving the 
people of this part of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan as a public 
health officer and administrator.
  In this capacity, Barbara developed a reputation for hard work that 
would put even our Congressional colleagues to shame--spending seven 
day weeks and fourteen to sixteen hour days when needed, in her 
devotion to the principle that public health services are critically 
important to the local communities she served.
  Barbara was born where she and her husband Terry Shea now live, in 
Stambaugh, Michigan. She grew up in Watersmeet, about thirty miles west 
of Stambaugh. Her work ethic developed naturally, under the tutelage 
and guidance of her father, Ferdinand and mother Margaret Serena. 
Ferdinand Serena was a longtime U.S. Forest Service employee and the 
family had deep roots in the Upper Peninsula. Margaret Serena still 
lives in Iron River, Michigan.
  After graduating from the University of Michigan with a B.A. in 1960, 
Barbara received her Masters in Social Work in 1962 and Masters in 
Public Health in 1969, both from the University of Michigan. She was a 
doctoral candidate from 1975 to 1977 at the Columbia University School 
of Public Health in New York.
  From 1962 to 1965, Barbara was a social worker with the State of 
Michigan Department of Social Welfare in Oakland County, and from 1965 
to 1968, she was a clinical social work supervisor at the Hawthorne 
Center in Northville, Michigan, run by the State of Michigan Department 
of Mental Health.
  She moved to New Jersey and became a social work coordinator at the 
University of Medicine and Dentistry and New Jersey Medical School in 
Newark, New Jersey in 1970. She remained there while studying at 
Columbia University until her return to her home in the U.P. in 1977.

[[Page E1534]]

  From 1977 until her retirement this year, Barbara Serena served as a 
public health administrator with the Dickinson-Iron District Health 
Department in Stambaugh, Michigan. From August 1995 to August 1996, she 
was the Department's Acting Health Officer. In September 1996 she was 
named the Department's Health Officer, serving in that capacity until 
2002.
  Barbara's return to the Upper Peninsula was fortunate for her 
community and also for Terry Shea, whom she met in 1980 in a crowded 
restaurant when a friend asked Terry if Barbara could join him at his 
table. Terry was at that time working Ted Kennedy's presidential 
campaign in what was then the 11th Congressional District of Michigan.
  Throughout Terry and Barbara's long and happy marriage, they have 
both continued to work in their faith community for families and for 
the betterment of their community as a whole. It is fair to say that 
for Barbara, retirement will be as busy as her life has been so far, 
although both Terry and Barbara hope to have more time for travel. They 
will intend to remain actively involved in the community and faith 
based volunteerism that has been a hallmark of their lives.
  When I asked Terry what was the most significant thing people in the 
area think of when they think of Barbara, he said ``Her work.'' That is 
a lasting legacy, and one that is far from completed.
  I congratulate Barbara on her many years of service in public health 
and wish her well in her retirement. The strength of my northern 
district is built on the daily efforts of people like Barbara, even 
though she stands in a special category. I ask you, Mr. Speaker, and my 
colleagues in the House of Representatives to join me in this special 
tribute to a very special woman.

                          ____________________