[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 73 (Friday, May 4, 2007)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E954]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      IN MEMORY OF BETTY J. WELDON

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. IKE SKELTON

                              of missouri

                    in the house of representatives

                         Thursday, May 3, 2007

  Mr. SKELTON. Madam Speaker, it is with deep sadness that I inform the 
House of the death of Mrs. William H. Weldon of Jefferson City, 
Missouri.
  Mrs. Weldon was born in Eagle Grove, Iowa, on February 22, 1922, 
daughter of Robert C. and Lenore Rhino Goshorn. She graduated from high 
school from the Mount Vernon Seminary, Washington, DC, in 1940 and went 
on to graduate Summa Cum Laude from Mount Holyoke College in 1943. 
After her college graduation, she returned to Jefferson City, Missouri, 
to work for the newspaper company which her father had purchased in 
1927.
  In July 1956, she was united in marriage to William H. Weldon. 
William and Betty were the proud parents of 1 son, Frank Gifford 
Weldon, and 2 daughters, Lenore ``Tony'' Weldon and Sally Proctor.
  Mrs. Weldon was owner and publisher of the Jefferson City News 
Tribune, The Fulton Sun, and California Democrat. She was owner of 
Callaway Hills Stables, near New Bloomfield, and also the founder of 
KRCG-TV. In 1955, Mrs. Weldon became the first woman in the United 
States to launch a television station.
  Mrs. Weldon donated the first building space in Jefferson City to be 
used for the education of handicapped children; first known as the 
Goshorn Handicapped Center, it later merged with other schools to 
become the Special Learning Center. She was also active in many other 
community and national associations and groups, including service as a 
board member of the Jefferson City Family Y.M.C.A., the United Way of 
Central Missouri, the former Memorial Community Hospital Board of 
Governors, the St. Mary's Health Center Advisory Board, the Lincoln 
University Advisory Council, the Jefferson City Housing Authority, the 
Jefferson City Area Chamber of Commerce, the Missouri Welfare 
Association, and was responsible for the first cancer fund-raising 
drive in Missouri. At the national level, Mrs. Weldon was a member of 
the American Security Council, the American Saddlebred Horse 
Association, the American Quarter Horse Association, and was involved 
with the White House Conference on Children and Youth.
  Madam Speaker, she was a valuable leader in the community who was 
respected by everyone who knew her. She was a dear friend of mine and 
will be greatly missed. I know the members of the House will join me in 
extending heartfelt condolences to her family.

                          ____________________