[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 79 (Wednesday, May 14, 2008)]
[Senate]
[Page S4183]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. SMITH (for himself and Mr. Wyden):
  S. 3015. A bill to designate the facility of the United States Postal 
Service located at 18 S. G Street, Lakeview, Oregon, as the ``Dr. 
Bernard Daly Post Office Building''; to the Committee on Homeland 
Security and Governmental Affairs.
  Mr. SMITH. Mr. President, I rise today to introduce a bill to rename 
the Lakeview Post Office after Dr. Bernard Daly. I am pleased to have 
my colleague Senator Wyden join me in this effort by serving as 
original cosponsor of this bill.
  Dr. Bernard Daly was an American country doctor, businessman, banker, 
rancher, state representative, state senator, county judge, and regent 
of Oregon State Agricultural College, today's Oregon State University. 
As early as 1888, Dr. Bernard Daly began actively encouraging young 
people to apply for college. When families could not afford the 
tuition, Daly quietly paid the bill.
  During a Christmas Eve party in 1894, an oil lamp started a fire in a 
crowed community hall in the small town of Silver Lake, Oregon. Forty-
three people were killed in the blaze, and many more were badly 
injured. Dr. Daly traveled by buggy from Lakeview to Silver Lake, a 
distance of 95 miles, over bad, snow covered roads to help victims of 
the tragedy. It took 24 hours of continuous travel for him to reach 
Silver Lake. Despite the long journey, he began treating burn victims 
as soon as he arrived, and continued without rest until everyone had 
been seen. Dr. Daly saved all but three of the badly burned persons, 
and his methods of healing were later published in detail in a medical 
journal. The fire was widely reported and written about in The Oregon 
Desert. Dr. Daly's efforts to reach and treat the victims earned state-
wide recognition and many admirers.
  When Dr. Daly died, he gave his fortune to the people of Lake County 
in the form of the Bernard Daly Educational Fund. Dr. Daly wrote in his 
will: ``It is my earnest desire to help, aid and assist worthy and 
ambitious young men and women of my beloved county of Lake, to acquire 
a good education, so that they may be better fitted and qualified to 
appreciate and help to preserve the laws and constitution of this free 
country, defend its flag, and by their conduct as good citizens reflect 
honor on Lake county and the state of Oregon.'' The fact that his will 
specifically directed that Daly scholarships be granted to women as 
well as men was very progressive for that era.
  Each year, approximately 40 graduates of Lake County high schools 
receive Daly scholarships. To date, well over two thousand students 
from Lakeview and other Lake County communities have used Bernard 
Daly's generous scholarships to attend college. Dr. Daly's educational 
trust fund has financed college educations for generations of Lake 
County, Oregon students, a legacy that continues to this day.
  I have received several messages from across the country and even one 
from Australia supporting the renaming of the Lakeview Post Office 
after Dr. Bernard Daly. Each one told a story of sincere appreciation 
for Dr. Daly's generosity.
  We urge our colleagues to support this important piece of 
legislation.
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