[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 84 (Wednesday, June 6, 2012)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E999-E1000]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




         HONORING AND CELEBRATING THE LIFE OF EVELYN WEINSTEIN

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. GARY L. ACKERMAN

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, June 6, 2012

  Mr. ACKERMAN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to celebrate the life of 
Evelyn Weinstein, beloved mother, grandmother, and wife, tireless 
advocate for the underprivileged, and friend to all who knew her. 
Regrettably, Evelyn passed away earlier this week.
  To say that Evelyn believed in giving back and paying forward would 
be an understatement--she devoted her entire life to helping the most 
vulnerable members of our society. The daughter of Polish immigrants, 
Evelyn worked hard to achieve the American Dream, graduating first from 
Brooklyn College and then going on to receive a Masters degree from 
Columbia University. Evelyn used her education and training to help 
others by becoming a certified psychiatric social worker in New York 
State.
  During World War II and its aftermath, she helped veterans and their 
families cope with the psychiatric issues of war and also assisted 
children with respiratory ailments. During her four-decade long career 
as a social worker, she was a stalwart advocate for patients, assisting 
thousands of them at Jamaica, Long Island Jewish and North Shore 
hospitals. She was also the director of Long Term Care Ombudservice, 
Nassau County, safeguarding the rights of nursing-home residents and 
helping families deal with the difficult transition of placing loved 
ones into elder-care facilities.
  Always the ardent activist, Evelyn was involved with many social 
agencies and organizations dedicated to assisting low income and 
vulnerable individuals, including: the Nassau Action Coalition, helping 
the aged and disabled and blind on Social Security Income; the Kimmel 
Housing Development Foundation, advocating for affordable housing; and 
the Social Action Committee of Temple Emanuel of Great Neck, serving as 
its chairperson. Evelyn also received numerous honors for her good 
works during her long and varied career, including: the American Jewish 
Congress Woman of the Year award, the Nassau County Social Worker of 
the Year award, and Nassau County Senior Citizen of the Year award.
  Evelyn met the love of her life, Jack Weinstein, while she was 
attending Brooklyn College. They married in 1946 after Jack's service 
in the U.S. Navy and had three sons, Seth, Michael, and Howard. Jack 
went on to become a federal district judge, then chief judge, in the 
Eastern District of New York. But before Jack could become one of the 
most distinguished jurists in the country, Evelyn worked nights as a 
social worker and helped care for their young son so that Jack could 
attend Columbia University law school.
  Evelyn was known for a lifetime of selfless devotion to her family, 
friends, coworkers, patients and clients. Her human touch and empathy 
for those in need led to the bettering of thousands of lives, not just 
through her own work, but also through her efforts of teaching people 
how to help people. She trained and supervised hundreds of social 
workers and volunteer ``ombudspeople'' along the way so that they could 
continue to ``pay forward'' what Evelyn had ``given back'' to her 
community. Evelyn was deeply committed to the concept of citizen 
representatives overseeing and engaging in government programs in their 
communities.
  Mr. Speaker, Evelyn's energy and compassion for helping the 
disadvantaged never wavered, never flagged. She is already sorely 
missed, but her gift of helping others, as well as inspiring all of us 
to help those less fortunate than us, will always endure. I ask all of 
our colleagues to rise and join me in honoring Evelyn Weinstein.

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