[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 119 (Wednesday, September 21, 2005)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1922-E1923]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




      HONORING ALVINA KENNEDY ON THE OCCASION OF HER 75TH BIRTHDAY

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. MARK R. KENNEDY

                              of minnesota

                    in the house of representatives

                     Wednesday, September 21, 2005

  Mr. KENNEDY of Minnesota. Mr. Speaker, as my mother approaches her 
75th birthday, I would like to share with my colleagues what a 
wonderful encouragement and inspiration she has been to me, my family 
and so many others.
  Alvina Dorothy Weber was born to Raymond and Helen Weber and 
graduated from high school in Benson, Minnesota. Her family had earlier 
lived for a time on a farm near Harold, South Dakota. Growing up on the 
frontier gave her a thankful heart for the many blessings we enjoy as 
Americans and a determination to make the most of those blessings. Her 
father Ray was of German Heritage and ran the local Sinclair service 
station in Benson. Her mother Helen was a Page whose English ancestors 
arrived in Hingham, Massachusetts in the mid-1600s.
  I remember getting together with the Weber family gathering during 
the Christmas holidays and Ray and Helen giving each of their 
children--Phyllis, Kenneth, Donald, Robert and my mother--a nativity 
set that has formed the centerpiece of our family's Christmas 
decorations for the decades that followed.
  My mother worked at the hospital in Benson where I was born and 
married my father Eugene Thomas Kennedy, a graduate of the high school 
in nearby Murdock. After a short period living in Hunter, North Dakota, 
when my oldest sister Monica was born, they returned to Murdock where 
my father worked at the Murdock State Bank. We lived in a home built by 
my grandparents, Charles and Rose Kennedy, right across the street from 
the Sacred Heart Church. It was in that house that my siblings Nancy, 
Steven, Peggy and I began our lives and in that church that my parents 
had us baptized. It was a grand old house with a fine porch, where we 
would often gather on summer days. I fondly remember peeking through 
the railings of the stairs and watching my parents visit with company 
when we were supposed to be in bed, riding my tricycle on the sidewalk 
and playing in our sandbox. My last memory of living in Murdock was 
when my mother gathered all of us children around the yellow-topped 
kitchen table to tell us that we were moving for the opportunity of a 
better job for my father. My father could have earned more money in the 
Cities, but my parents wanted to raise their children in the country, 
where neighbors really knew each other and cared about each other.
  While living at our new home in the country just outside of Pequot 
Lakes, Minnesota where my parents still reside, she brought the final 
of her seven children--David and Neil--into the world. My mother took 
her parenting responsibilities very seriously. She would regularly sit 
all of us children down in the living room and read us newspaper 
clippings so we knew how the things she and my dad taught us applied to 
the world around us. She still sends me clippings regularly I and calls 
to make sure that I am reading them.
  She taught us to care. We would all line up by the front door on the 
first day of school to take a picture with our new ``back to school'' 
clothes. Every year, she told each of us to be on the look out for 
children that were new to the school. She encouraged us to reach out to 
them and make them feel welcome.
  She taught us how to share. If there was only one brownie left and 
two children, she let one child cut it in half and the other get the 
first pick as to which half to choose. She and my father encouraged us 
as children to contribute to charities of our choice, particularly 
during the holiday season.
  She taught us responsibility and to hold ourselves to high standards, 
in part through our 4-H projects whether it be weeding the garden or 
caring for livestock--Hereford cattle in my case, chickens in the case 
of my sister. She would get very frustrated when other children 
misbehaved and their parents responded, ``My Johnnie wouldn't do 
that.'' She made it clear to us that in our case, she would consider us 
guilty until proven innocent if anyone called her about our behavior. 
If we tried to get permission to do some activity based on some other 
child being allowed to do so, she would reply, ``Is his last name 
Kennedy?''
  The feeding, caring and guiding of seven children was more than a 
full time job. She dedicated her life to that task. My mother has many 
positive qualities. Among those qualities is the ability to put on a 
great meal. A positive side effect of my sister raising chickens was 
that we had chicken dinner nearly every Sunday. My mother makes the 
best chicken gravy and the best brownies. Our normal meal when we had 
company was Swedish meat balls, which always baffled me since no one in 
our family had a drop of Swedish blood. In any case, they were always 
tasty.
  She taught us to persevere. I started out with Little League when I 
was young and found that I really wasn't as good as the town boys that 
played a lot more growing up than I did. I was having difficulty 
fitting in with the group of boys that were largely strangers to me and 
certainly better ball players. She said that it was OK for me not to go 
out for baseball the next year, but that Kennedys were not quitters. 
She would not let me quit, a lesson that has stuck with me throughout 
my life.

  She and my father have always been strong in their faith and have 
taken every opportunity to engender the light of faith in their 
children and grandchildren. We never missed mass, often prayed together 
and are still regularly reminded of our overriding mission to serve 
God's Will, not our own. My mother is a very active volunteer at St. 
Alice Catholic Church and encouraged my father to help lead the effort 
to build a larger church building. To encourage our good behavior 
during services, we were rewarded by being able to buy two cents worth 
of candy at the penny candy case at Pfeiffer's drug store if we 
behaved. We could have anything we wanted as long as it totaled two 
cents.
  My parents spent time together in their early years in Rural Youth 
and were big fans of 4-H. To give their children the same 
opportunities, my mother spearheaded forming a 4-H club, which to me 
was critical since I met my wife Debbie in 4-H. As the prime leader of 
the Pelican Lakes 4-H Club, it grew to the largest and most active in 
the county. My mother would regularly be on the lookout for young 
people that needed positive influences in their lives and pulled them 
into the 4-H club to provide those influences.
  My parents valued education highly. My mother encouraged my father's 
participation as a school board member for 27 years at Pequot Lakes 
Public High School, where my father helped lead the effort to build a 
new school complex. We would regularly hear my mother pass on her 
advice to our father on issues before the school board.
  As an insurance agent in the local bank and homemaker, my mother and 
father got all seven of us children through college, our family's first 
generation of college grads. All seven of us earned degrees at St. 
John's University or the College of St. Benedict. They gave us $500 a 
year for four years, not five--four, and taught us how to work so we 
could earn the rest.
  Even though my parents had never been to Europe, my mother really 
encouraged us to participate in the international exchange programs at 
college, and contributed an extra $500 to defray part of the costs if 
we did. Debbie and I were blessed to be able to welcome my mother and 
father to Europe for the first time and tour them around for three 
weeks when I was participating in an exchange program in graduate 
school in the Netherlands. My mother really wanted us to

[[Page E1923]]

understand other cultures, but remained convinced that America is the 
greatest nation the world has ever known.
  Seeing how much government impacted our lives, my mother served as 
the treasurer for a friend from church who ran for the Minnesota House 
of Representatives and won. She worked endlessly for his campaign and 
regularly marshaled the family for lit drops. As her children left the 
nest, she spent an increasing amount of time volunteering for the 
Republican Party and its candidates. We attended our first party 
conventions for the 1978 election, a watershed year for Minnesota 
Republicans. She was selected as a delegate to the Republican National 
Convention in New York City in 2004. I will always cherish the time I 
was able to spend with my mother and father during that convention.
  There is so much more that I could share about how big of an impact 
my mother has had on my life and countless others. She has worked 
selflessly throughout her life for others, volunteering for church, 4-
H, Party or community activities, driving others to the hospital or 
clinic, never asking anything in return. She is devoted to her seven 
children and twenty-seven grandchildren and regularly visits their 
school events.
  I suppose every child has a special moment with their parent that 
they will always remember. Mine is talking with my mother when I was 
having trouble fitting in at school during my youth. She sat down 
beside me and shared the story of her own life and how at a young age 
she came to the conclusion that she was no better than anyone else, but 
that no one else was better than her. That understanding of the 
inherent equality of worth of all individuals served to help her 
confidence and mine.
  Although I fervently believe in the equality of all people, any 
honest appraisal would have to agree that the impact my mother has had 
on this earth during her first 75 years has truly been exceptional. May 
her positive influence extend for decades to come.

                          ____________________