[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 38 (Wednesday, March 24, 2004)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E446]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        HONORING MILLIE JEFFERY

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. JOHN D. DINGELL

                              of michigan

                    in the house of representatives

                       Wednesday, March 24, 2004

  Mr. DINGELL. Mr. Speaker, it is with a heavy heart that I rise to let 
my colleagues know that we lost a national hero today. Mildred Jeffrey 
was a great soul who was the very embodiment of American values. I want 
her family to know that Millie was an inspiration to us all and that 
she will be very sorely missed.
  Millie was a leader. She began her work in the 1930s as an organizer 
for the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America, traveling throughout 
the South and the East organizing textile workers. In the 1940s she 
joined the United Auto Workers, where she served as the Director of the 
Women's Bureau. Millie organized the first UAW women's conference to 
respond to the massive post World War II layoffs of women. Millie then 
ran the union's radio station, served as the Director of the Community 
Relations Department, and until her retirement in 1976, as the Director 
of the Consumer Affairs Department.
  Never one to stand around when there were injustices, Millie marched 
with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in the South in the 1960s. Born before 
women even had the right to vote, Millie spent her life fighting for 
women's equality. She was the founder of the Women's Political Caucus, 
a member of the Coalition for Labor Union Women, and was inducted into 
the Michigan Women's Hall of Fame.
  The list of Millie's accomplishments is long. Chief among those 
accomplishments though is the relationships Millie established along 
the way. Millie has served as friend, inspiration, mentor and advisor 
to many of us in public service.
  As President Clinton said when he awarded her the Presidential Medal 
of Freedom in 2000, ``Her impact will be felt for generations, and her 
example never forgotten.''
  Mr. Speaker, I would ask that all my colleagues rise to pay tribute 
to a great American hero, Mildred McWilliams Jeffrey.

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