[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 120 (Tuesday, July 17, 2018)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1020]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




        CELEBRATING THE 99TH BIRTHDAY OF WEBSTER WASHINGTON, SR.

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. BARBARA COMSTOCK

                              of virginia

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, July 17, 2018

  Mrs. COMSTOCK. Mr. Speaker, I rise to recognize a good and decent man 
from the northern Shenandoah Valley, Mr. Webster Washington, on the 
occasion of his 99th birthday. Born on April 20, 1919, on a cattle farm 
in Stone Bridge, in Clarke County, Virginia, Web Washington was the 5th 
child among 11 siblings. His father was the manager of the farm and his 
mother was a stay-at-home mom, taking care of Web and his brothers and 
sisters.
  Although Mr. Washington does not dwell on it, as an African-American 
man born on a farm in Clarke County in the early 20th Century, his 
opportunities were very limited. He did most of his schooling at White 
Post School, involving a 2 mile walk each way. Because he didn't have 
the transportation or money to go on to school in Berryville, as soon 
as he graduated from White Post in the 7th grade, he started working on 
the farm, milking cows, cutting corn and doing everything else a 
farmhand did, even as a young teenager. At 20, he married Pauline Evans 
from Winchester and over the next several years they had 5 children. 
During their 42 years of marriage, he and Pauline faced their struggles 
together. In pursuit of gainful employment, the Washingtons moved to 
Bethesda, Maryland, where they both worked for well-to-do white people 
as domestic servants, including, for him, as a chauffeur to a 
successful lawyer. Thereafter, Web worked on a farm in Berryville, 
before moving to Winchester in 1947.
  And it was at that time, that the Washingtons hit the lowest, most 
difficult period of their lives. They felt the pressure of caring for 
their five children and yet, as an African-American family, they had 
difficulty finding work and a place to live. As Mr. Washington put it, 
the additional burdens that racial discrimination put on him and his 
wife meant that ``jobs were scarcer and housing in Winchester was 
almost impossible to find, even rentals.'' It was shortly thereafter 
that they became connected to the John Mann church on Cork Street, and, 
over the next 70 years, that connection has sustained Webster and 
Pauline and their family in their 42 years of marriage, and after her 
passing, his second wife, Mattie and him in their marriage of 24 years, 
until her passing several years ago.
  Through his faith in God and the support of his John Mann Church 
family, Webster Washington says ``I've been down and out, and the Lord 
brought me back,'' finding work as an orderly at the Winchester 
Memorial Hospital and later taking care of a doctor's office, he was 
able to buy his own house, first at 601 Gray Avenue in Winchester and 
then a home in Stephens City. Asked whether he had time for sports or a 
social life, he responded that his priority on providing for his family 
and serving in every possible position in his church, left little time 
for anything else. The highlight of his life was a wonderful 5-day 
transoceanic cruise that Mattie and he took in the 1980s. Asked what he 
believes God will say about his life, he humbly says he doesn't know. 
``All I know is that the Lord has been good to me.''
  Mr. Speaker, I ask that you and our colleagues join me in honoring 
Webster Washington on his 99th birthday, a good and decent man of 
faith, who has made a success of his life by humbly dedicating himself 
to his family and his church.

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