[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 116 (Wednesday, July 29, 2009)]
[House]
[Pages H8963-H8964]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   TRIBUTE TO MRS. VIRGINIA KUCINICH

  (Mr. KUCINICH asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute.)
  Mr. KUCINICH. Let me tell you a story about a bright, high-spirited 
woman who, like many American women of the Greatest Generation, 
sacrificed for her family and her Nation.
  Instead of going to college, she helped the war effort, working in 
manufacturing during the day and singing for the USO at night. She met 
a young marine combat veteran, fell in love, married, nursed her war-
injured husband back to health, and began a family which quickly grew 
to seven rollicking children. She and her husband never owned a home. 
As renters, the family was forced to move from place to place. In the 
first 20 years of their marriage, the family lived in 21 different 
places, including a couple of cars. Despite economic hardship and

[[Page H8964]]

her own illnesses, she taught her children to read in preschool years, 
raised her children to appreciate life, to love God, to count spiritual 
blessings, to be strong of heart, always to be grateful, to be kind, 
honest, respect others and never to quit.
  Her name was Virginia, and she was my mother. And today would have 
been her 85th birthday. Happy birthday, Mom.

                          ____________________