[Congressional Record Volume 160, Number 104 (Monday, July 7, 2014)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4214-S4215]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         ADDITIONAL STATEMENTS

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                    TRIBUTE TO KATHERINE McLAUGHLIN

 Mrs. SHAHEEN. Mr. President, I wish to recognize Katherine 
``Kay'' McLaughlin.
  Kay was born in South Boston, MA, on July 11, 1921. She is the middle 
child of the five children of Francis Pucci and Mary O'Donnell.
  Kay grew up a short walk from Boston Harbor near Castle Island, a 
Revolutionary War-era fort that still stands today, and spent many days 
walking from her home to Castle Island and back, a lifelong habit that 
has contributed greatly to her long life. She graduated from Boston 
Girls High School

[[Page S4215]]

and would take great joy in telling her children of the day she and her 
friends skipped school to see Frank Sinatra perform.
  After high school, she attended Boston Secretarial School and went to 
work at Submarine Signal Company located in Boston. By that time, she 
had already caught the eye of a young man in the neighborhood named Leo 
McLaughlin. In 1944 they were married.
  Leo and Kay's first child, a girl, arrived in 1946 and there were 
more to come. In 1957, Kay and her family moved to Bedford, NH. By 
1961, there were six girls and seven boys in the McLaughlin family. 
Included in this group were the children of Kay's deceased sister-in-
law and brother-in-law.
  At the age of 36, Kay was a mother of 13 with another child to come 
in the immediate future. With wisdom beyond her years, Kay arbitrated 
disputes between rival factions amongst her children. She provided what 
was needed to solve their problems and keep the family moving in the 
right direction.
  Though Kay endured many losses--the death of a baby in childbirth, 
losing a talented daughter in the prime of her life, and losing her 
husband--they were not enough to stifle her spirit. As time passed and 
her children produced children of their own, she once again became a 
resource to her 16 grandchildren, keeping secrets and providing aid and 
comfort.
  Should Kay somehow find a way to live forever, we are all sure she 
will provide the same aid and comfort to her 17 great-grandchildren. 
While she is with us today in person, she will always be with us in 
spirit.

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