[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 68 (Friday, May 14, 2004)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E871-E872]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       HONORING LULA BELL HOUSTON

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. JOHN M. SPRATT, JR.

                           of south carolina

                    in the house of representatives

                         Thursday, May 13, 2004

  Mr. SPRATT. Mr. Speaker, I rise to congratulate Lula Bell Houston of 
Davidson, North Carolina. Ms. Houston retired in May 2004 from Davidson 
College, my alma mater, after 57 years of service in the college 
laundry. The significance of this milestone in the Davidson community 
is matched only by the devotion that Ms. Houston has brought to her job 
everyday for over half a century.
  Born in 1923 (just three years after the current laundry building was 
constructed), Ms. Houston worked for a year in Davidson's dining 
service from 1943-44. She spent the next few years raising a family, 
but returned in 1947 to work at the college laundry. She has been there 
ever since, waking up every weekday morning at 4:15 a.m., to ensure 
that she would be there for the 6:30 a.m. start of the work day. Ms. 
Houston originally took the job as a means of supporting herself and 
her two young children after her first husband left them, but the 
students have kept her here long after her children have grown up and 
had kids of their own.
  The biggest legacy that Ms. Houston leaves the college and the town 
of Davidson is her warm personality and loving nature. She was always 
ready with a hug and a smile to all who came to drop off their laundry. 
Student after student shared stories and memories about Ms. Houston and 
all spoke of the genuine love in her voice when she greets them and how 
she has been like a grandmother to them all. The college has figured 
that she has cared for the laundry of all but 1,226 of the college's 
19,731 living alumni--a lot of surrogate grandchildren.
  Davidson College honored Ms. Houston in the best way possible, naming 
the laundry building after her. The Town of Davidson commemorated that 
sunny day of April 29, 2004 by declaring it ``Lula Bell Houston Day.'' 
At Spring Convocation the day before, the Omicron Delta Kappa honorary 
leadership fraternity presented Ms. Houston with its Staff Appreciation 
Award, and in 2002, the SAE fraternity presented Ms. Houston with $500, 
a dozen roses, and a trophy recognizing her as ``The Spirit of 
Davidson.''
  As an article featured on the college's ywebsite puts it, ``Few 
retirees in local history have been so royally heralded.'' Ms. Houston 
deserves every bit of that recognition for her long and tireless 
service to the college and her part in the lives of thousands of 
Davidson students over the years. I join my fellow Davidson alumni and 
other members of the Davidson community past and present in commending 
Ms. Lula Bell Houston and celebrating her achievement.
  I submit for the Record a news article with more about Ms. Houston.

                   [From the Davidson, Apr. 30, 2004]

  Campus Honors Retirement of ``Spirit of Davidson'' in Laundry's New 
                                  Name

                          (By Leslie Hempson)

       As if fifty-seven years of work weren't enough, in a sense 
     Lula Bell Houston will never leave her job now. That's 
     because the college on Thursday afternoon affixed her name 
     forever to the laundry building, naming it in her honor.
       Hundreds of well-wishers turned out to honor the eighty-
     year-old Houston at her retirement party, and cheered when 
     President Robert Vagt made the surprise announcement of the 
     building's new name. In praising her loyalty to Davidson and 
     irrepressible good cheer, Vagt called her ``a biological 
     mother to four children, but a mom to all who needed her.''
       ``This is a grand moment in the history of Davidson 
     College,'' he said.
       When asked to respond, Houston could find few words. ``What 
     can I say? What can I say?'' she asked. ``I just want to 
     thank everyone for being here, for letting me see your 
     beautiful faces. I love all of you.''
       Few retirees in local history have been so royally 
     heralded. In a whirlwind twenty-four hours that capped her 
     long career sorting student clothes and folding sheets, 
     President Vagt also read a proclamation from the Town of 
     Davidson declaring ``Lula Bell Houston Day,'' and the student 
     membership of the Omicron Delta Kappa honorary campus 
     leadership fraternity presented her with its Staff 
     Appreciation Award at Spring Convocation.
       Alumni and current students turned out at the retirement 
     party to honor the woman who greeted them with a smile on 
     their regular trips to the laundry. Joey Harris '02, former 
     student body president, took a day off his job in a 
     Congressional office and drove from Washington to attend. ``I 
     couldn't miss it,'' he said. ``Ms. Lula Bell has been a good 
     friend over the years, and we still keep in touch. There's no 
     other place I'd rather be right now than here.''

[[Page E872]]

       McKinley Glover '04 said, ``I've known Ms. Houston since I 
     was a freshman, and she's always shown a genuine interest in 
     people's feelings. She's about the sweetest lady I've ever 
     met.''
       Born in 1923, Houston worked for year in Davidson's dining 
     service in 1943-44. She spent the next few years in New York 
     City and Washington, but The Lula Bell Houston Laundry has 
     been her home-away-from-home since 1948. She has cared for 
     the clothing of all but 1,226 of the college's 19,731 living 
     alumni. Even more valuable than her laundry services, Houston 
     has bestowed grace and affection on students, offering them 
     that same comfort of being in a home-away-from-home.
       A retirement tribute to her stated, ``Lula Bell has been 
     greeting anyone and everyone with a warm smile and a kind 
     word and a hug. Students drop off their dirty clothes, and 
     leave with their spirits lifted and a reminder that there's 
     more to life than their next test or paper. They know someone 
     is working tirelessly and without complaint to take care of 
     them, someone who doesn't care what their grades are, whether 
     or not they won their last game, or how their love life is 
     going. They know Miss Lula Bell's unconditional love.''
       One former Davidson student, lonely and discouraged far 
     away from his home in Nicaragua, wrote her a letter thanking 
     her for her kindness. Even though he graduated years ago, he 
     still keeps in touch, and called her a few weeks ago to wish 
     her a happy Easter.
       Another former student, Matthew Arbuckle `02, organized his 
     SAE fraternity brothers two years ago to show their 
     appreciation by giving her $500, a dozen roses and a trophy 
     recognizing her as ``The Spirit of Davidson.'' That trophy is 
     proudly displayed in front of the cubby in which she keeps 
     her keys and papers, next to a few small seashells and a list 
     of laundry employees that dates back to the 1950s.
       What few students know is that Houston's work has provided 
     a refuge in a life that has not been easy.
       Houston began working in a time when racial discrimination 
     was still prevalent in the South, and a black woman had very 
     limited job prospects. After her first husband left her in 
     1947, she took the $12 a week job at the laundry to 
     support herself and two young children. Houston had 
     watched her mother, Rosa Potts, provide for a family 
     without the help of a husband, and knew what to do. Her 
     mother had risen at the crack of dawn to milk the cow, 
     clean the house, and prepare breakfast for her two 
     children before going off to a day job. Houston was 
     determined to work just as hard.
       She has always waked at 4:15 and arrived at the laundry by 
     6 a.m., assuring that she would be on time for the 6:30 a.m. 
     start of the work day. When her children were young, she 
     brought them to the laundry with her. They played amidst the 
     washers and driers with children of other workers until it 
     was time to go home. Davidson's laundry has always encouraged 
     that feeling of family, and Houston's association with 
     generations of students has reinforced it. ``The sense of 
     being family makes the time fly by,'' she said. ``My family 
     gets bigger with the bunches of clothes coming in. Students 
     come in with smiles on their faces and hope in their eyes.''
       In 1959 she married Arthur Houston, with whom she raised 
     two more children. She continued to work at the laundry, and 
     he worked at two jobs, until 1988 when Arthur died of a heart 
     attack. She has suffered more losses recently, with the death 
     of a brother from Lou Gehrig's Disease five or six years ago, 
     and the death of her mother three years ago.
       It was hard for Houston to keep going after the deaths of 
     her brother and mother, but work has always been a salve for 
     her wounds. She likes the predictability of her laundry 
     duties, her co-workers, and the students. Church, and 
     particularly church music, has also been a constant solace. 
     She has been a member of Gethsemane Baptist Church for 
     seventy-eight years, attending services and Sunday school 
     every weekend, and spending three hours on Saturday mornings 
     practicing with the church choir. In addition to the choir, 
     she is a member of the Gethsemane Baptist Church Gospel 
     Singers, a group that performs at churches all across the 
     region and has even appeared on television a couple of times.
       Houston said her immediate plans for retirement are to 
     finish thoroughly cleaning her house. She said she might also 
     take a little break to visit relatives in Las Vegas and 
     Baltimore, and maybe take a trip back to New York. She has 
     also always wanted to learn how to play the piano.
       Co-workers have been urging her to retire for years. They 
     tell her to hurry up and leave so that she'll have a chance 
     to enjoy some of her life before it's too late. But even as 
     she planned her retirement, Houston was already talking about 
     returning to work part-time at the laundry. She insists, ``I 
     am enjoying what I'm doing. I am enjoying my life.''

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