[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 103 (Friday, June 20, 2008)]
[Senate]
[Page S5934]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[[Page S5934]]
                    TRIBUTE TO NELDA BARTON-COLLINGS

  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I rise today to pay tribute to a good 
friend, Nelda Barton-Collings. Mrs. Barton-Collings is a well-respected 
Kentuckian and businesswoman, recently retired after serving 28 years 
on the Republican National Committee.
  Mrs. Barton-Collings resides in Corbin, KY, where she was married to 
Dr. Harold Bryan Barton. After the passing of Dr. Barton she took on 
the ownership and operation of his two nursing homes. At the same time, 
she took night classes to become a licensed nursing home administrator. 
She has since grown those two nursing homes into numerous nursing homes 
and banks throughout eastern Kentucky.
  Mrs. Barton-Collings used her vast business skills to serve her 
community, State, and eventually her Nation by committing to public 
service. She started out as a precinct chair, and then rose to become 
Kentucky's national committeewoman for the GOP. In 1982, President 
Ronald Reagan appointed her to the Federal Council on Aging. In 1990, 
she was the first woman elected chairman of the Kentucky Chamber of 
Commerce while serving on the President's Council on Rural America and 
the National Advisory Council to Small Business Administration, through 
an appointment by President George H.W. Bush.
  She has long been a voice of great leadership on the Republican 
National Committee, where she was the first woman from Kentucky to 
address the RNC and call the meeting to order. Her position gave her 
opportunities to extend democratic ideas and philosophy to the former 
Soviet Union. She and 40 other political and business professionals 
volunteered to visit the Soviet Union in 1990 to discuss the 
foundations of a democratic government. ``They want freedom so badly; 
we hoped that we have helped them in some way,'' she said of her 
experience in the Soviet Union.
  Nelda has given the good people of Kentucky and this Nation over 28 
years of public service, and I would like to ask my colleagues to join 
me in honoring this committed public servant. The News Journal in 
Corbin, KY, published an article highlighting her accomplishments and 
what a champion she is for the Commonwealth of Kentucky, and I ask 
unanimous consent that the full article be printed in the Record.
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

                 [From the News Journal, May 28, 2008]

          Longtime Supporter Honored With Portrait, Classroom

       On Sunday, May 18, friends and family of Nelda Barton-
     Collings gathered at Cumberland Inn on the campus of 
     University of the Cumberlands to recognize this extraordinary 
     woman at a luncheon given in her honor.
       As Dr. Jim Taylor, UC president said, ``Today we honor a 
     lady who has made, and who continues to make a significant 
     and substantial contribution to our area, to our state, and, 
     indeed, to our nation. Dr. Nelda Barton-Colllings truly is a 
     legend in her own time.'' After the luncheon, the assembly 
     proceeded to the Hutton School of Business, where a portrait 
     of Mrs. Barton-Collings adorns a special classroom, which 
     bears her name, in recognition of her faithfulness and 
     support of UC.
       A native of Providence, Webster County, Kentucky, Barton-
     Collings attended Western Kentucky University for two years 
     before she entered the Norton Memorial Infirmary in 
     Louisville, where she became a certified medical 
     technologist. In Corbin, as the wife of Dr. Harold Bryan 
     Barton, she became active in local organizations and held 
     leadership positions in church, political, civic, medical, 
     youth, educational and women's groups.
       After Dr. Barton's death, she took over his business, which 
     consisted of two nursing homes, and completed the 
     Williamsburg Nursing Home, then under construction. At that 
     time, she enrolled in night classes at University of the 
     Cumberlands and later became a Kentucky Licensed Nursing Home 
     Administrator. She and her business partner continued to 
     build or buy a total of eight long-term healthcare facilities 
     in Eastern Kentucky. A business woman ahead of her time, 
     Barton-Collings has owned banks, pharmacies, rental 
     properties, weekly newspapers, a cinema, and several other 
     businesses. The newspapers, long-term care facilities and 
     banks have won state awards and recognitions.
       In 1990, Barton-Collings became the first woman elected 
     chairman of the Kentucky Chamber of Commerce. In 1982, she 
     received a Presidential appointment from President Ronald 
     Reagan to the Federal Council on Aging, where she served 
     until 1987. From 1990-92, she served on the President's 
     Council on Rural America and the National Advisory Council to 
     Small Business Administration, appointed by President George 
     H.W. Bush.
       As an active member of the Republican Party for more than 
     50 years, Barton-Collings moved up the ranks from a precinct 
     chair to Republican National Committee member representing 
     Kentucky, a position she held for 28 years. Elected vice 
     chair for an eight-year term and secretary of the Republican 
     National Committee for another eight years, Barton-Collings 
     earned the honor of calling to order the Republican National 
     Convention in 1996.
       But, this was not her first convention appearance, as she 
     was the first woman from Kentucky to present an address at a 
     Republican National Convention, when, in Detroit, Michigan, 
     in 1980, she spoke on ``The Business of Caring for the 
     Elderly.'' During her tenure on the Republican National 
     Committee, she was a charter member and appointed secretary-
     treasurer of the National Institute on International Affairs, 
     and she served on the Foreign Affairs Committee, which 
     allowed her to travel extensively to foreign countries to 
     promote democracy.
       Recently honored by the Kentucky Commission on Women as a 
     ``Kentucky Woman Remembered'' for her many achievements, 
     Barton-Collings's portrait now hangs in the Kentucky State 
     Capitol.
       Through the years, she has received numerous other awards 
     and honors, including an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from 
     University of the Cumberlands, as well as the Kentucky 
     Medical Association's Outstanding Layperson Award, the John 
     Sherman Cooper Distinguished Service Award from Kentucky 
     Young Republicans and the Dwight David Eisenhower Award.
       Currently, the chairman of the board of Bretara, LLC and 
     Tri County Cineplex, LLC, Barton-Collings also serves on the 
     Kentucky Economic Development Partnership Board; as secretary 
     of the University of Kentucky Center on Aging; and as chair 
     of University of the Cumberlands Board of Visitors.
       Married to Dr. Jack Collings of Owensboro, Kentucky from 
     March of 1992 until his death in 2000, Barton-Collings is the 
     mother of five, grandmother of ten, step-grandmother of 
     twelve, and great-grandmother of two.
       Dr. Jim Taylor, University of the Cumberlands president, 
     said, ``It is entirely appropriate that Mrs. Barton-
     Collings's picture hangs in this room where our students will 
     study business principles and practices, for she certainly 
     exemplifies the ideal of a true businesswoman.
       Through her remarkable career and her stellar service to 
     her fellow humans, she is a role model for our aspiring 
     business leaders, and we are honored that she is an alumna of 
     University of the Cumberlands, Nelda, as we say here in these 
     beautiful mountains, `You do us proud.' ''

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