[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 35 (Monday, March 2, 2015)]
[House]
[Page H1504]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
CELEBRATING THE 100TH BIRTHDAY OF MRS. ALLIEFAIR ROGERS
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from
Georgia (Mr. Loudermilk) for 5 minutes.
Mr. LOUDERMILK. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize the milestone
in the life of Mrs. Alliefair Rogers who, this week, is celebrating her
100th birthday. Mrs. Rogers is also, incidentally, a second-generation
centurion, as her mother, Ida Jane, also lived to the age of 103.
Throughout her life in the past century, Mrs. Rogers has witnessed
some of the most significant moments that have shaped our Nation. Born
during the onset of World War I, Mrs. Rogers was only 2 years old when
America entered the Great War, sending our doughboys across the
Atlantic.
By the time she was 5 years old, the first radio stations were going
on the air in America, prohibition was enacted, and women for the first
time had the right to vote. By her 12th birthday, Charles Lindbergh had
flown across the Atlantic Ocean, and the first motion picture with
sound was played in theaters. At the age of 14, she witnessed the
beginning of the Great Depression.
Just months before turning 25, Mrs. Rogers learned of the Japanese
attack on Pearl Harbor and, over the next 5 years, said goodbye to
family members and friends as they left Walhalla, South Carolina, to
fight against the Axis Powers.
Before her 31st birthday, she had witnessed the D-day invasion, the
Battle of the Bulge, the Battle of Iwo Jima, the bombing of Hiroshima
and Nagasaki, and the surrender of both Germany and Japan. By the age
of 33, she witnessed the rebirth of Israel as a nation; and, at 40,
America sent troops overseas to fight in Korea.
By her 50th birthday, she had lived through the building of the
Berlin Wall, America's first satellite in space, the deployment of
forces to Vietnam, the Cuban missile crisis, and the assassination of
President John F. Kennedy.
By 60 years old, Mrs. Rogers witnessed the end of the Vietnam war,
the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and the first human
to step foot on the moon.
Within the next 15 years, by the age of 75, Mrs. Rogers experienced
the first resignation of a United States President, the invention of
the personal computer, the first woman Supreme Court Justice, the end
of the cold war, and the beginning of the space shuttle program.
In her lifetime, Mrs. Rogers has witnessed the administration of 17
United States Presidents and a significant portion of this Nation's
history.
Today, I join with the many friends and family who are celebrating
the virtuous and faith-led life of my aunt Mrs. Alliefair Rogers and
wish her a very happy 100th birthday.
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