[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 143 (Thursday, October 1, 2015)]
[Senate]
[Page S7096]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        TRIBUTE TO SYLVIA OLIVER

  Mr. CARDIN. Mr. President, there are many people who work behind the 
scenes to help the Senate function. We tend to take them for granted, 
but we shouldn't. I would like to take this opportunity to acknowledge 
one such Senate staffer, Sylvia Oliver, who is leaving at the end of 
this week. I won't say that Sylvia is retiring because there is a 
chance we can coax her into returning at some point. But she is leaving 
her job as coordinator of the Congressional Record in the Office of the 
Official Reporters of Debates because she wants to spend more time at 
home with her daughter, Lily, who is a senior in high school. That is a 
completely understandable and laudable desire.
  Few people appreciate that even though the Office of the Official 
Reporters of Debates has embraced the latest information technology, 
producing the Congressional Record remains a painstaking, labor-
intensive process. Even fewer people appreciate that the officials and 
employees like Sylvia who are responsible for its production typically 
have to work for several hours each night after the Senate has 
adjourned making sure the Record is accurate and complete before 
sending it to the Government Publishing Office. We take for granted 
that a printed copy of the Record, one of the most important documents 
in our Nation, will be delivered to our offices the next morning. There 
are many people who work late into the night without fanfare or 
accolades to make this possible. They are an invaluable part of what I 
call the Senate family.
  Sylvia is a Vermont native and graduated from the University of 
Vermont. She still visits her mother, Betty Reid, in Barre as often as 
possible and is close to her siblings, John Reid, Betsy Reid, David 
Reid, and Sarah Schroeder. She started her congressional service on the 
House side in 1988 working for then-Representative Jim Jeffords of 
Vermont. She came with him to the Senate in 1989. She returned to the 
House for a few years, working as an executive assistant to the House 
Sergeant at Arms. Then, she came back to the Senate in 1993, where she 
worked as a scheduler and executive assistant for Senator Byron Dorgan 
of North Dakota and the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs before 
assuming her current job with the Office of the Official Reporters of 
Debates. She is unfailingly professional and polite. We will all miss 
her, but I know her colleagues in the Office of the Official Reporters 
of Debates will miss her the most because she is such a kind and gentle 
and pleasant person.
  I am proud to have Sylvia as a constituent. She lives near Annapolis; 
and, true to the rural roots of her Vermont upbringing, she has made 
her home atop a converted barn. Even though she works long hours in the 
Senate, she has usually done more each morning before she arrives here 
than most people accomplish in a week. She maintains a small farm and 
looks after three horses whose names are Conge, Chance, and Love It. 
She starts most mornings by mowing acres of pasture, hauling dozens of 
bales of hay, and feeding the chickens. She also has a small pumpkin 
patch. But that is not enough for Sylvia--she has a number of bee hives 
to look after, too.
  Lily Oliver, who has graciously shared her mother with us, has said, 
``My mom is the most beautiful person I know. She makes the world a 
better place by always treating those around her with compassion and 
patience. I am so fortunate to have such a strong, genuine, 
resourceful, mother to emulate throughout life.'' Well, we have been so 
fortunate to have Sylvia in the Senate family for the past 20-plus 
years. The American people are so fortunate to have talented and 
dedicated public servants like Sylvia. I truly believe our Federal 
workforce is the best in the world.
  I ask my colleagues to join me in thanking Sylvia Oliver for her 
exemplary service and wishing her well as she begins the next chapter 
in her life with the most important family of all, her own.

                          ____________________