[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 98 (Monday, June 28, 2010)]
[House]
[Pages H4893-H4894]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   PAULA HAWKINS POST OFFICE BUILDING

  Ms. NORTON. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the 
bill (H.R. 5395) to designate the facility of the United States Postal 
Service located at 151 North Maitland Avenue in Maitland, Florida, as 
the ``Paula Hawkins Post Office Building''.
  The Clerk read the title of the bill.
  The text of the bill is as follows:

                               H.R. 5395

       Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
     the United States of America in Congress assembled,

     SECTION 1. PAULA HAWKINS POST OFFICE BUILDING.

       (a) Designation.--The facility of the United States Postal 
     Service located at 151 North Maitland Avenue in Maitland, 
     Florida, shall be known and designated as the ``Paula Hawkins 
     Post Office Building''.
       (b) References.--Any reference in a law, map, regulation, 
     document, paper, or other record of the United States to the 
     facility referred to in subsection (a) shall be deemed to be 
     a reference to the Paula Hawkins Post Office Building.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentlewoman from 
the District of Columbia (Ms. Norton) and the gentleman from Florida 
(Mr. Mica) each will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from the District of Columbia.


                             General Leave

  Ms. NORTON. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may 
have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentlewoman from the District of Columbia?
  There was no objection.
  Ms. NORTON. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  On behalf of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, I am 
pleased to present H.R. 5395 for consideration. This measure designates 
the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 151 North 
Maitland Avenue in Maitland, Florida, as the Paula Hawkins Post Office 
Building. H.R. 5395 was introduced by our colleague, the gentleman from 
Florida, Representative John Mica, on May 25, 2010. It was referred to 
the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform which waived 
consideration of the measure to expedite its consideration on the floor 
today. It enjoys the support of the entire Florida delegation.
  Paula Hawkins was a Republican Member of Congress who served a single 
term as a Senator from Florida, fighting to protect children and 
blazing a trail for women. Paula Hawkins was born on January 24, 1927, 
in Salt Lake City and passed away on December 3, 2009, at the age of 
82. Paula Hawkins was the eldest of three children born to Paul, a 
naval chief warrant officer, and Leone Fickes. In 1934, the family 
moved to Atlanta, where her father taught at Georgia Tech. Her parents 
split when Paula was in high school, and Leone and the children 
returned to Utah. She finished high school at Richmond, Utah, in 1944, 
then enrolled at Utah State University. On September 5, 1947, Paula 
Fickes and Walter Eugene Hawkins were married and moved to Atlanta. The 
couple had three children before moving to Winter Park, Florida, in 
1955, where Paula Hawkins became a community activist and Republican 
volunteer.
  Ms. Hawkins was the first woman elected to a full Senate term without 
being preceded in politics by a husband or father. She was also the 
first woman to be a Senator from Florida. While in the Senate, she was 
the leading sponsor of the Missing Children's Act of 1982, which 
requires the Federal Bureau of Investigation to enter descriptive 
information on missing children into a national computer database that 
can be used by law enforcement agencies across the country.
  With incredible courage, she shocked her colleagues by disclosing in 
a congressional hearing that she had been molested as a child by a 
neighbor. Besides her daughter Genean and her husband, both of Winter 
Park, her survivors include another daughter, Kelly McCoy, also of 
Winter Park; a son, Kevin, of Denver; a sister, Carole Fickes of 
Sacramento; 11 grandchildren; and 10 great grandchildren. Paula Hawkins 
was truly an inspiration to Members of Congress and to women 
everywhere. I therefore urge my colleagues to join me in supporting 
this measure.
  I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. MICA. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, I am very pleased that Ms. Norton, the gentlelady from 
the District of Columbia, is here today. She chairs one of the 
important subcommittees of Oversight and Government Reform. It's been 
my honor to serve on that committee for some 18 years. I think most of 
that time she has been here and has done a great job in representing 
the citizens of the District of Columbia.
  Paula Hawkins would be very proud that Ms. Norton is here today; and 
I have served with the two of those individuals, both Paula Hawkins and 
Eleanor Norton. There are many similarities. They are very determined 
women, very accomplished women, and women who love the people they 
represent and do a great service for them.
  I had the distinction of being the chief of staff for Senator Hawkins 
from 1980 to 1985. Before that, I knew her in Florida in the community 
of Maitland. I lived in Maitland Shores. She lived down the street in 
the city of Maitland. Paula Hawkins was a wonderful lady, a great human 
being, a patriot, and she really broke a number of the glass ceilings 
and barriers for women.
  I might say, among her accomplishments, she was the first woman 
elected statewide in the history of the State of Florida, and she did 
that on her own. She started, actually, in her community, working on 
some local issues, and she took those local issues to her fellow 
citizens at city hall. She had their voices heard. And she wasn't 
elected to any position, just an active community leader. From that, 
she ran unsuccessfully for the State legislature. But when people saw 
her talent, they knew that this individual was a fighter for the 
people.
  In fact, she gained the reputation when she got elected statewide to 
the first office as the ``fighting housewife,'' ``the Maitland 
housewife.'' She was known affectionately as ``the Fighting Maitland 
housewife'' during her entire lifetime, even when she was a Member of 
the United States Senate because she fought for the people in her 
community, and she didn't take any hostages. She represented them well. 
She had her principles, and she had her philosophy. She never wavered. 
I think her personal morality--she is a member of the Church of Latter-
day Saints,

[[Page H4894]]

a Mormon, strong in her beliefs, strong in her philosophy, and I think 
that was also a guiding light for Paula Hawkins.
  Along her side during that entire journey was a wonderful individual, 
Gene Hawkins. Gene survived her. She passed away, as Ms. Norton said, 
December 3 of last year, but her memory and her achievements do live 
on. Not only, as you heard Ms. Norton describe, was she elected 
statewide in the State of Florida, but also was the first United States 
female Senator in her own right--no family member preceded her--and 
that was quite an accomplishment. We think that now, some 30 years ago; 
but it was an accomplishment even in 1980 when she achieved it.
  When she came to Congress, she set her path, and she had her 
priorities, and one of those priorities were our children and youth. In 
fact, they committed to her care a committee that was called, I 
believe, Family, Youth and Drugs because she was interested in family, 
she was interested in youth, and she was very dedicated to doing away 
with the scourge of illegal narcotics.
  Now, some people who get involved in committee work make their mark. 
Paula Hawkins set the mark. She passed, as everyone knows in the 
country, the national missing children's legislation. She knew that 
missing and exploited children were a national problem, but not a 
national priority. I remember when she said, It's amazing that an 
automobile, a refrigerator can be quickly identified by our law 
enforcement folks but missing children could not. So she set up the 
mechanism that long survives her in a national missing children's 
center that President Reagan opened on June 13, 1984.

                              {time}  1515

  There are many accomplishments too, and I'm anxious for this 
legislation to be heard in the other body. Simple things like there 
wasn't a Senate daycare center, and that daycare center is still 
operating today. So not just Members of the Senate--and many of them 
are far beyond the age of having children eligible for daycare--but 
there are many hundreds of employees and staff who do have young 
children, and Paula Hawkins saw that their needs were taken care of. 
Just a small thing.
  There's dramatic legislation. Most people would never know today, 
almost all of the labor legislation--she was on the Labor Committee in 
the Senate. But it was interesting to watch her because, being a male 
and, you know, sometimes men think a little bit differently than women. 
You don't think of all the problems that women have. And at that point 
in life, she became their champion.
  So the labor laws in this country even today reflect her influence, 
simple things like trying to make certain that a single woman had some 
way to get to work, some simple way to care for the child, some 
consideration for the special concerns and needs of women who want to 
be productive in our society. And even the laws today have the mark of 
a great United States Senator.
  So, today I know many people are focused on the death and loss of 
Senator Byrd, and many of us who got to know him mourn his loss and his 
many contributions. Paula Hawkins wasn't here as many terms as Senator 
Byrd. He was here for nearly half a century. Paula Hawkins was here for 
only one term, but her deeds and her good works prevail even to this 
day.
  So to her husband, Gene, to her daughters, Genean and to Kelly and to 
Kevin, her son, we're excited about having in their community, in 
Paula's community, the Maitland Post Office just down the street from 
where she lived for many years, a small remembrance. And it is fitting 
that when we do remember folks like Senator Hawkins, that the public 
can enjoy their memory. So on the Maitland Post Office will be a plaque 
dedicating that building and that postal facility to the memory of a 
great American leader, former United States Senator Paula Hawkins.
  I reserve the balance of my time.
  Ms. NORTON. I thank the gentleman from Florida for his kind and 
generous comparison of my service with that of Paula Hawkins. She was 
much admired for the breakthroughs that her service represented.
  I have no further requests for time, and I reserve the balance of my 
time.
  Mr. MICA. I yield myself the balance of my time.
  Again, I am pleased that Ms. Norton would be here today and honor the 
memory of my friend. I had the opportunity, as I say, to have worked 
with Senator Hawkins, both as she built the Florida Republican Party 
from precinct to the State level, as she built her reputation and 
service to not only the community of Maitland, of Winter Park, central 
Florida, Florida, the State, and the Nation, but it is fitting that we 
do take this step today to name this structure in her honor, a small 
token of our appreciation for her dedication, her service, her 
patriotism.
  In closing, let me just say that the gentlelady from the District of 
Columbia probably knows some about my traits. But I have to tell her, 
in closing, that the one thing I learned from Senator Paula Hawkins is 
persistence. It beats power. It beats position. It beats wealth. It 
beats all the cards that may be dealt to you in a positive or negative 
fashion. But persistence, and I think the gentlelady knows what I mean, 
that I am a persistent person, and now she knows the rest of the story 
as to where that persistence came. And it was from the lady we honor 
here today, Senator Paula Hawkins.
  I yield back the balance of my time.
  Ms. NORTON. Mr. Speaker, I can only say that the gentleman from 
Florida learned all too well the lessons of persistence from Senator 
Paula Hawkins. And may I say, as well, whenever the gentleman from 
Florida is right in his persistence, he will find the gentlewoman from 
the District of Columbia right there beside him and in his corner.
  Mr. Speaker, I again urge my colleagues to join me in supporting this 
measure.
  I yield back the balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the 
gentlewoman from the District of Columbia (Ms. Norton) that the House 
suspend the rules and pass the bill, H.R. 5395.
  The question was taken.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. In the opinion of the Chair, two-thirds 
being in the affirmative, the ayes have it.
  Ms. NORTON. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.
  The yeas and nays were ordered.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to clause 8 of rule XX and the 
Chair's prior announcement, further proceedings on this motion will be 
postponed.

                          ____________________