[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 168 (Monday, November 16, 2015)]
[Senate]
[Page S7966]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]





                       TRIBUTE TO BETTY VANDIVER

 Mr. ISAKSON. Mr. President, it is an honor for me to pay 
tribute today to Betty Russell Vandiver, the former first lady of the 
State of Georgia from 1959 to 1963.
  Sybil Elizabeth ``Betty'' Russell Vandiver is the wonderful wife of 
the late Georgia Governor, Earnest Vandiver. She also is the niece of 
Richard B. Russell, Jr., the former Georgia Senator and Governor after 
whom one of our U.S. Senate office buildings was named and where my 
office in Washington, DC, is located. But Betty Vandiver is more than 
that.
  At the time, Mrs. Vandiver became first lady in 1959, Central State 
Hospital in Milledgeville, GA, served as the State's only State 
hospital for the mentally ill and developmentally disabled. In the late 
1950s, Central State Hospital was home to more than 12,000 patients, 
many of whom had been abandoned by their families at an early age.
  After visiting the hospital, Mrs. Vandiver became concerned about 
these patients, and she determined that she would devote much of her 
time and energy as first lady to raising public awareness of the needs 
of Georgia's mentally ill and developmentally disabled.
  One of Mrs. Vandiver's initiatives included working with the Georgia 
Municipal Association to create a statewide Christmas gift collection 
drive known as the Mayors' Motorcade. This special event was 
established in 1959 and expanded years later to support the inhabitants 
of the State's regional hospitals. Since then, caring Georgians support 
the Mayors' Motorcade each year by donating gifts to cities 
participating in the program.
  Through Mrs. Vandiver's efforts, thousands and thousands of patients 
residing at Georgia's State hospitals have received Christmas gifts and 
visits from city officials at special motorcade events.
  On December 1, 2015, we will celebrate Betty Vandiver Day in Georgia. 
Today it is my pleasure to honor Mrs. Vandiver for having the vision to 
create the Mayors' Motorcade program as a way of providing not only 
gifts, but also critical public awareness about the needs of Georgia's 
mentally ill and developmentally disabled.

                          ____________________