[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 107 (Tuesday, June 25, 2019)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4501-S4502]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  TRIBUTE TO ANDREA ``ANDY'' PENDLETON

 Mrs. CAPITO. Madam President, today I wish to honor my friend 
and the first woman mayor of the town of Rainelle, WV, Andrea ``Andy'' 
Pendleton. Mayor Andy, as her friends call her, has served the town of 
Rainelle and Greenbrier County for the past 8 years, standing tall in 
the face of adversity and some of the toughest times that the 
Greenbrier River Valley has ever experienced. As the first woman 
elected to the Senate from West Virginia, I greatly admire Andy's 
initiative and her desire to give back to her community through public 
service.
  Growing up in West Virginia teaches you to be tough, it teaches you 
to be respectful, and it teaches you take care of those around you. I 
know by Mayor Andy's character and her desire to help others that she 
holds those same West Virginia values close to her heart. To this day, 
Andy credits many of the positive qualities she possesses to the time 
she spent growing up in her family's discount food store, working 7 
days a week. Little did she know that these fundamental lessons were 
building her into the leader that the town of Rainelle desperately 
needed.
  The historic floods that ripped through West Virginia in June of 2016 
devastated Rainelle, with almost 90 percent of homes and businesses 
ravaged by the flood water. Out of the 23 West Virginians we lost on 
that day, five of them were members of the Rainelle community. Mayor 
Andy was on the scene immediately and worked tirelessly in the days and 
months following the flood. From moving logs and rocks, alerting first 
responders, and keeping the community together, she dove directly into 
the flood relief process and led by example. She was tireless.
  The impact that Mayor Andy has had on her community will be felt for 
far longer than her tenure as mayor. She was the driving force in 
securing funds to construct a new water system that efficiently 
supplies clean drinking water to the people of her town. In addition, 
she has also worked to replace

[[Page S4502]]

aging sidewalks, as well as other beautification and community 
development projects including the Meadow River Trail. Even now, in her 
final days in office, Mayor Andy continues her tireless work for 
Rainelle and its recovery.
  Mayor Andy and the people of Rainelle inspire me. I am incredibly 
appreciative of the selfless leadership that Mayor Andy exhibits with 
her actions, and I hope that it further inspires young women in her 
community and across our State to rise up and be leaders and 
influential voices in their community. The town of Rainelle's motto has 
never been so fitting and true, largely in part to Mayor Andy: ``A Town 
Built to Carry On.'' On behalf of the people of the great State of West 
Virginia, I thank Mayor Andy Pendleton for her service to Rainelle. It 
is truly an honor to call her a colleague and a friend.

                          ____________________