[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 175 (Monday, November 30, 2009)]
[Senate]
[Page S12006]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         ADDITIONAL STATEMENTS

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                         TRIBUTE TO PAT VEZINA

 Mr. BEGICH. Madam President, today I wish to recognize a 
milestone for my constituent Pat Vezina. On Friday, December 4, 2009, 
Pat will mark the 50th anniversary of her arrival in the State of 
Alaska. Alaska became a State in January 1959 and Pat made it her home 
less than a year later, one of thousands of people who have built our 
State over the last half century.
  Pat was born in Wallsend, Northumberland, England, on June 4, 1931, 
to Clement and Constance Boothroyd. She grew up in Jesmond, 
Northumberland, and was evacuated for a short time during World War II 
before returning home to live with her parents for the duration of the 
war. After attending nursing school in Leeds, England, she emigrated to 
Canada and then to Alaska
  Pat worked as a registered nurse in the labor and delivery department 
at Providence Hospital, one of Alaska's finest institutions. She began 
her Alaska nursing career at ``Old Providence'' hospital where hundreds 
of new Alaskans, including me, were born. After marrying and having two 
children of her own, she returned to nursing at ``New Providence'' 
where she worked for 30 years before her retirement in 1996.
  Pat has an abiding love for the beauty of Alaska. She enjoys walking 
on the beaches of Homer, buying summer flowers for her garden in the 
greenhouses of the Matanuska Valley, picking berries at Sheep Mountain 
Lodge, and an afternoon with a friend at Summit Lake Lodge. She is 
loved by her children Karen and John and by the close friends she has 
made over the last 50 years.
  Madam President and colleagues, please join me in honoring and 
recognizing Pat Vezina on the 50th anniversary of her arrival in 
Alaska.

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