[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 5 (Tuesday, January 25, 2005)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E57]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 HONORING JUDY HART, SUPERINTENDENT OF THE ROSIE THE RIVETER/WORLD WAR 
       II HOME FRONT NATIONAL HISTORICAL PARK UPON HER RETIREMENT

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. GEORGE MILLER

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, January 25, 2005

  Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to invite 
my colleagues to recognize Judy Hart who is retiring after a twenty-
seven year career with the National Park Service.
  Judy Hart has served as the first superintendent of the Rosie the 
Riveter/World War II Home Front National Historical Park in Richmond, 
California. My legislation creating the new national park was signed 
into law by President Clinton on October 24, 2000, and Ms. Hart began 
as Superintendent on January 15, 2001.
  Prior to becoming Superintendent, Judy coordinated the study for the 
new park. She has devoted the last four years of her career to laying 
the foundation for this national park. The Rosie Park recognizes the 
City of Richmond and its unique heritage as the epicenter of a national 
effort to memorialize and interpret the contribution of the Home Front. 
Many of the experiences that began in Richmond not only helped to win 
World War II but also changed the way the nation thought about civil 
rights, child care, health care and labor rights.
  The challenges Judy has faced, and the obstacles she has overcome, 
are even more remarkable because, as a ``partnership park,'' all of the 
land and buildings are owned by entities other than the National Park 
Service. In addition, the federal funds available for start-up are 
limited. Working with a number of grants, volunteers and her public and 
private donors, Judy will turn over to her successor a sound structure 
on which to build. She made an incomparable contribution to moving the 
RRNP from concept to reality.
  Her accomplishments at RRNP include working with many partners to 
accomplish the following: oversaw the implementation of the General 
Management Plan process which she also is coordinating with the City 
of Richmond's general plan amendment; worked with the Port of Richmond 
to open Shipyard #3 to visitors; none of the historic structures have 
been torn down even though every structure in the Park legislation has 
been threatened with demolition; National Register nominations will 
shortly be completed for all structures but one within the Park; 
developed Phases one and two for oral histories of home front workers. 
In addition, over 9,000 Rosies have contacted the Park to share their 
names and short stories. After connecting with the Park, over 2,000 
Rosies have written out the whole story of their home front adventures, 
up to 55 typed pages from one Rosie. Over 2,000 Rosies have donated 
their precious mementos, treasured for over 50 years and now delivered 
to the safekeeping of the Park. Volunteer hours went from 0 in 2003 to 
over 3,000 hours in 2004.

  Judy Hart's career in the Park Service spans 27 years. Prior to 
moving to California for this new position, Ms. Hart worked for 12 
years in the Washington, D.C. headquarters. She was the first National 
Program Coordinator for the National Heritage Areas which are 
partnership areas privately owned and managed in cooperation with the 
NPS. Previous to that Ms. Hart developed the Conservation Study 
Institute, now operated in partnership with the University of Vermont 
and the new Marsh Billings National Historical Park in Woodstock, 
Vermont.
  Ms. Hart served in the Washington office of Legislation for 6 years, 
supporting the creation of Petroglyphs National Monument, Marsh 
Billings National Historical Park, the Mary McLeod Bethune National 
Historic Site, and Manzanar National Historic Site, as well as many 
other park units.
  Ms. Hart lived for 6 years in Seneca Falls, NY and was the first 
superintendent of the Women's Rights National Historical Park in Seneca 
Falls, after suggesting the idea, working on the study and working on 
the legislation. Prior to that, Ms. Hart worked on park legislation out 
of the NPS Regional office in Boston, MA.
  Prior to her career with the Park Service, Ms. Hart worked for the 
Boston Redevelopment Authority, City of Boston, and the Commonwealth of 
Massachusetts, as Director of the Bureau of Relocation. She also worked 
for the Federal Highway Administration on Environmental Impact 
Statement reviews.
  She began her career in publishing at Little, Brown and Company, and 
as a company newsletter editor for the Boston Safe Deposit and Trust 
Company, both in Boston. Her graduate degree is in English Literature 
from Cornell University, and her graduate degree is a Master of Arts in 
law from Goddard College in Vermont.
  Mr. Speaker, because of Ms. Hart's many contributions to preserving 
and interpreting our nation's history, I am delighted to have this 
opportunity to recognize her unique contributions, especially to the 
Rosie the Riveter National Park, and to ask all Members of the House to 
join me in wishing her well in the years to come.

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