[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 137 (Monday, December 6, 2004)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E2158]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




           IN MEMORY OF DOLLY NASH, A DISTINGUISHED AMERICAN

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. JOE WILSON

                           of south carolina

                    in the house of representatives

                        Monday, December 6, 2004

  Mr. WILSON of South Carolina. Mr. Speaker, I rise to remember a 
distinguished South Carolinian, Janet Dolly Nash. Dolly Nash and her 
husband always flew the American flag at their home in Beaufort, South 
Carolina. She was a proud American. Not long ago, Dolly ``passed'' (a 
term often used in my state). She died in Cape May, New Jersey, a 
community with which Beaufort shared her. A retired school teacher, 
Dolly gave of her wide knowledge to many others--others who will 
remember her and her lessons of life.
  Dolly Nash believed it was her mission to promote the legacy of her 
great grandfather, Robert Smalls, a legend in the Beaufort area. 
Despite his status as a slave of only 23 years of age, Robert Smalls 
learned to be a pilot in Charleston Harbor. During the Civil War, he 
``commandeered'' the Confederate vessel Planter and delivered it to 
Union forces. He rose to the rank of major general in the South 
Carolina militia. After the war he founded the Republican Party in the 
Beaufort area and was elected to the United States House of 
Representatives. In April of this year, the Army Supply Ship, Major 
General Robert Smalls, was christened in Mississippi, the first Army 
vessel to bear the name of a black American.
  ``Dolly was everywhere, just like sunshine,'' says Delores Nevils of 
St. Helena, South Carolina, a close friend of Dolly's and herself a 
fine American. In a recent article in the Beaufort Gazette, Mrs. Nevils 
extolled Dolly and described her extensive service to her community. As 
Mrs. Nevils described it, at her 75th birthday party, Dolly gave gifts 
rather than received them. Dolly Nash gave many gifts to many people in 
her lifetime. She herself was a gift to the people of Beaufort, of 
South Carolina and of America. I would like to share with you the 
memory of Dolly Nash.

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