[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 66 (Wednesday, May 24, 2006)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E957]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      TRIBUTE TO MRS. MARLYS SMITH

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. JO ANN EMERSON

                              of missouri

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, May 24, 2006

  Mrs. EMERSON. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor Mrs. Marlys Smith, a 
teacher at Matthews Elementary School in Sikeston, Missouri. Marlys is 
retiring after 31 years of service in Missouri's Public Schools.
  Marlys was born on November 18th, 1952, on the Marine Base at 
Quantico, Virginia, to Monda and Jim Davis. The oldest of six children, 
she spent her early years in Mississippi County, Missouri, and 
graduated from East Prairie High School. She went on to receive her 
undergraduate degree in Elementary Education from Southeast Missouri 
State University in 1975. Later, she obtained her Masters Degree from 
William Woods University in Fulton, Missouri.
  As a young girl of 10, Marlys contracted a disabling bone disease 
that caused her to be hospitalized for nearly three months. Because of 
the radical surgery she needed, she lost the ability to use her right 
hip, until extensive corrective surgery in the last year. Rather than 
allow this physical impairment to hinder her in any way, she turned her 
energy from outdoor activities to music. The young girl from 
Mississippi County who became a teacher and taught everything from high 
school special education to first, third and sixth grades also had time 
to develop her voice. She sang with ``Young Americans in Concert'' in 
New York at Carnegie Hall, in Europe, and also for President Nixon in 
the White House in the summer of 1971. And then in 1993, my late 
husband, Congressman Bill Emerson, invited this beautiful, young lady 
to sing ``Amazing Grace'' to 4000 participants at the National Prayer 
Breakfast in Washington DC. She again shared her voice in a rendition 
of ``Amazing Grace'' in 1996 at Bill's funeral in Missouri and in 
Statuary Hall in the U.S. Capitol.
  Marlys Smith, the school teacher, has been a Girl Scout Leader, 
Sunday School teacher and a mentor to thousands of girls and boys in 
Southern Missouri and a friend to all who have known her. And I count 
myself as one of those friends. Marlys and her husband, Lloyd, who is 
my Chief of Staff, are family. We have shared many wonderful and 
tearful times over the last 25 years.
  Although Marlys has been a leader in her field and a dedicated 
volunteer in a host of groups, her most special role has been that of a 
wife to Lloyd and mother to their three children, Trista, Sam and 
Tiffany. A working mom who, because of her husband's travels, was many 
times the only one at home to go to scouts, ball games and church 
events or to help with homework. She never complained and always has a 
smile on her face. Indeed the young girl who nearly died at age 10 
turned into a beautiful woman who has shown a zest for life and shared 
her love with all those who have known her.
  I congratulate Marlys on her retirement and wish her the best in all 
of her future endeavors. From the Emerson Family to Marlys Smith, we 
say thank you, and we pray you continue to spread your wonderful gifts 
for years and years to come.

                          ____________________