[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 43 (Monday, March 8, 2021)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E209]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        IN MEMORY OF LAURA COLE

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. CHELLIE PINGREE

                                of maine

                    in the house of representatives

                         Monday, March 8, 2021

  Ms. PINGREE. Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor and remember an 
extraordinary Maine woman, Laura Cole.
  Laura lived her life purposefully, offering help and engendering hope 
and happiness as a partner, parent, volunteer, friend, business owner, 
and citizen of Maine. She understood the power of one person's voice 
and helping hand, and her spirit was contagious.
  Laura exemplified the words of Edward Hale, ``I am only one, but 
still I am one. I cannot do everything, but still I can do something; 
and because I cannot do everything, I will not refuse to do something 
that I can do.''
  It seems there was very little that Laura did not do, and she 
received several awards for her efforts, including the Presidential 
Volunteer Service Award in 2012, the Responder of the Year Award in 
2013, and the New Maine Business of the Year for York County, Maine, in 
2019. She spearheaded her community's Operation Santa program for kids 
and the annual Lebanon Community Festival. In the midst of this winter 
that has been darkened by a pandemic, she created two acres of holiday 
lights for the community to enjoy from their cars and drop off canned 
food to donate to local food pantries. And she used proceeds from her 
event photography business to support End 68 Hours of Hunger and buy 
lunches to support local restaurants and donate to first responders.
  Not only did Laura devote her life to acts of kindness and caring, 
her final gifts were organ and tissue donations, providing lifesaving 
help and health to over a dozen people. In her honor, the family has 
established Laura's Legacy of Love as a living memorial project with a 
simple mission--to promote kindness by paying it forward in her name.
  I am proud to have represented Laura Cole in the U.S. Congress--an 
indefatigable young woman who loved Maine and set an extraordinary 
example for us all.

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