[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 22 (Monday, February 22, 2010)]
[Senate]
[Page S616]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        REMEMBERING DIANE CAVES

 Mr. ISAKSON. Madam President, today I honor the life and 
service of Diane Caves, a bright and talented young woman whose life 
ended far too soon, in the tragic earthquake in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, 
on January 12, 2010.
  Diane worked for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, as a 
policy analyst in the Office of Public Health Preparedness and 
Response. Her commitment to public service was recognized just last 
year when she was named 2009 Federal Employee of the Year for Atlanta 
in the Outstanding Professional Category, at the age of 30.
  Diane led the development in 2008 of CDC's first comprehensive 
nationwide report on public health preparedness, ``Public Health 
Preparedness: Mobilizing State by State.'' Her work launched a regular 
series of reports that demonstrate accountability and drive program 
improvements to help protect the Nation from public health emergencies.
  She shined equally bright among her friends and in her community. She 
was an avid soccer player, an insatiable reader, and a world traveler. 
She brought people together to share their interests in food, knitting, 
books and sports, and motivated others with her energy, wit and 
unyielding optimism.
  Diane recently volunteered for a short assignment to Haiti to work on 
the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, or PEPFAR. Congress 
reauthorized this historic commitment to the fight against global AIDS 
a little more than a year ago, with strong support from both parties. 
PEPFAR represents the very best of America. It is a remarkable program 
that is saving lives around the world with the contributions of people 
like Diane and her colleagues at CDC.
  Diane didn't go to Haiti for the recognition. She went because she 
was passionate about public health, because she was a committed public 
servant, and because, above all, she wanted to help people. She didn't 
go to Haiti because it would be easy or comfortable. She asked to go 
where the challenges were greatest, the work was the hardest and the 
potential to help was limitless.
  Diane didn't go to Haiti to be a hero. But she has come home as one.
  She was brought to Dover Air Force Base last week, and a family 
memorial service was held in her hometown of Oak Ridge, TN. Her family 
and friends will mourn her quietly and privately as a loved one. We 
will also mourn her as a nation, as we do any American who dies in 
service to this country. There will be a ceremony at CDC in her honor 
on March 1, 2010, where her name will be added to a memorial for 
employees who died while in service.
  We are thankful for the life and service of Diane Caves. Her smile, 
her laugh and her spirit will always be remembered. Her service will 
always be celebrated. Her extraordinary gifts and talents were shared 
with many during her short life, and they will never be forgotten.
  Our thoughts and prayers are with her husband Jeff Caves; her parents 
Lee and Linda Berry; her brother David Berry; and with Jeff's family 
and all of her friends and colleagues who will mourn her and miss her 
and strive always to live up to her example.

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