[Congressional Record Volume 160, Number 89 (Tuesday, June 10, 2014)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E939]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         HONORING FRED WILFORD

                                  _____
                                 

                         HON. TIMOTHY H. BISHOP

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, June 10, 2014

  Mr. BISHOP of New York. Mr. Speaker, I rise to congratulate Fred 
Wilford on his retirement after thirty-six years of service to his 
community as a member of the Board of Trustees of the Sagaponack Common 
School District in Sagaponack, New York, located in my district. Mr. 
Wilford has served his community and his country with dedication and 
distinction, and I am proud to call him a resident of New York's first 
congressional district. In addition to his long-time work on the school 
board, he is also a fifty-year veteran of the local volunteer fire 
department and a veteran of the United States Navy.
  First elected to the Sagaponack school board in 1978, Mr. Wilford has 
served twelve consecutive terms on the board. He is known as a 
dedicated and caring person who always works for what is best for the 
school, its students and its teachers. His connection to the school 
district stretches back to his grandmother, Maebelle Clarke, who taught 
at the school at the beginning of the Twentieth Century and where she 
met her future husband, Fred Topping. With its historic little red 
schoolhouse and one teacher, the Sagaponack school district has one of 
the few remaining one-room schoolhouses in the country.
  Mr. Wilford, who has lived all of his life in Sagaponack except for 
the four years he served in the Navy, attended the Sagaponack 
schoolhouse as did his mother, Elmira, his six siblings and his four 
children. During his tenure on the board, he served as board president, 
vice president and trustee. His wife Ellen served as a member of the 
school maintenance support staff, the scholarship committee and the 
shared decision making committee throughout his tenure on the board.
  ``I love the job, I love the school, and I love what I do,'' Mr. 
Wilford, said recently about his plan to retire this month. ``It's been 
part of my life for so many years that you hate to give it up.''
  In addition to his service to the school, Wilford also served for 
fifty years as a member, past chief and commissioner of the 
Bridgehampton Fire Department. He worked for the Long Island Lighting 
Company for over thirty years and currently operates an estate care 
business.
  Mr. Speaker, I know that the school district will miss Fred Wilford's 
expertise and commitment after he retires. On behalf of New York's 
first congressional district, I would like to wish him well and thank 
him for all he has done for our community.

                          ____________________