[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 82 (Thursday, June 22, 2006)]
[Senate]
[Page S6415]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[[Page S6415]]
                    PASSING OF EVELYN ``EVY'' DUBROW

 Mr. LAUTENBERG. Mr. President, today I to celebrate the life 
and work of Evelyn ``Evy'' Dubrow, a longtime champion for working 
people in our country, who passed away this week at the age of 95.
  Evy was loved by many Members of Congress, but I think I will miss 
her more than most. She came from my hometown of Paterson, NJ. Her 
parents were immigrants, like my own mother and father. And one of her 
first jobs was as a reporter at the Paterson Morning Call, which was 
our local newspaper.
  Evy soon moved into union work, first as a secretary for the textile 
workers union, and then as an assistant to the president of the New 
Jersey Congress of Industrial Organizations.
  In 1956, she came to Washington as a lobbyist for the International 
Ladies Garment Workers Union. At that time, lobbying was almost 
exclusively a man's world but although Evy stood just a little bit shy 
of five feet tall, she never backed down from anyone.
  Although she eventually became vice president of the ILGWU, and later 
of the textile workers union UNITE, she continued to fight here on 
Capitol Hill for issues that affect working people--especially women.
  She was a lobbyist in the most honorable sense of the profession, 
because she never tried to browbeat or buy a vote. She simply told you 
why she felt her position was right--and she always did it with 
conviction. In 1982, a Washington business newspaper named her one of 
the town's 10 best lobbyists.
  In 1999, President Clinton awarded the Medal of Freedom to Evy. It 
was quite an honor for a daughter of immigrants from Paterson--and it 
made me proud.
  Evy never married, but she doted on her nieces and nephews, and five 
grand-nieces. And workers all across the country thought of her as 
family. They loved her and trusted her to look out for them.
  Everyone who cares about working people will miss Evy. We should also 
give thanks for her long life and the many things she accomplished. And 
we must honor her memory by carrying on her fight for fair pay, better 
education and job training, and safer conditions for working 
people.

                          ____________________