[Congressional Record Volume 160, Number 43 (Friday, March 14, 2014)]
[House]
[Pages H2472-H2473]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          WEST VIRGINIA WOMEN

  (Mrs. CAPITO asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Mrs. CAPITO. Mr. Speaker, women have played a significant role in our 
Nation's history and in my home State of West Virginia. I would like to 
recognize a few who have had wonderful achievements in art, literature, 
sports, government, education, and volunteerism.
  Anna Johnson Gates was the first female elected to the State 
legislature

[[Page H2473]]

from Kanawha County; Elizabeth Drewry, the first African American 
elected to the legislature from McDowell County, West Virginia; 
Elizabeth Kee, the first woman elected to Congress from Bluefield, West 
Virginia.
  One West Virginian has given us a national holiday--Anna Jarvis, the 
founder of Mother's Day, from Grafton, West Virginia.
  In the sciences, Dr. Harriet Jones broke down barriers to become the 
first licensed physician in West Virginia from Marshall County.
  We have two women who reached the very pinnacle of their field. 
Novelist Pearl Buck, from Hillsboro, West Virginia, won the Nobel Prize 
for literature. In athletics, no one could forget West Virginia's own 
Mary Lou Retton when she made history by achieving her perfect 10s in 
1984.
  The stories of West Virginian women and all women must be told. That 
is why I support H.R. 863, the National Women's History Commission Act.
  It is my privilege to talk about so many wonderful West Virginia 
women.

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