[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 49 (Thursday, April 21, 2005)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E729]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




         TRIBUTE TO ANTOINETTE ``TONI'' DENISE WILLIAMS-McCEARY

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. DONALD M. PAYNE

                             of new jersey

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, April 21, 2005

  Mr. PAYNE. Mr. Speaker, I am proud to rise today in memory of 
Antoinette Denise Williams-McCeary who was a life long resident of my 
Congressional district. Mrs. Williams-McCeary, lovingly known by 
friends and family as ``Toni'', was the third of 10 children and a 
mother of one.
  In 1982, she began work in the financial services field. 
Unfortunately, that career came to an abrupt halt after developing 
pulmonary sarcoidosis, a multi-system disorder that currently has no 
cure. Yet as the saying goes, ``when one door closes another one 
opens''. Instead of resigning in defeat, she became a champion of the 
less fortunate through volunteer work.
  She served as coordinator of the Self Help and Resource Exchange 
(SHARE), a program that is engaged in self-help food distribution 
systems, economic development, community service and educational 
programs. Mrs. Williams-McCeary also gave of herself by feeding 
neighborhood children and assisting her church in various capacities.
  Ms. Williams-McCeary passed away on April 9, 2000. Her family created 
the Antoinette Denise Williams-McCeary Foundation in order to carry on 
her legacy of giving. The organization's primary focus is to provide 
financial assistance to the National Sarcoidosis Resource Center which 
conducts research in hopes of finding a cure.
  Mr. Speaker, I invite my colleagues here in the U.S. House of 
Representatives to join me in honoring Antoinette Denise Williams-
McCeary, who in life and death continues to help others in need. I am 
proud to have had her in my Congressional district and wish her 
foundation never-ending success in its future endeavors.

                          ____________________