[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 194 (Wednesday, December 14, 2022)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1277]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]





                        HONORING FREDNA MAHAFFEY

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. BILLY LONG

                              of missouri

                    in the house of representatives

                      Wednesday, December 14, 2022

  Mr. LONG. Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor Fredna Mahaffey.
  Fredna Barton Mahaffey was born on July 18, 1929, in Highland Park 
(Dallas), Texas. After graduating from Highland Park High School, she 
attended SMU where she became a member of the Pi Beta Phi Sorority. 
After transferring to the University of Wisconsin in Madison she 
graduated with a BA in Spanish while also becoming President of the 
local Pi Beta Phi chapter.
  In 1953, Fredna was very blessed to have gone on an afternoon blind 
date where she met her future husband John B. Mahaffey of Springfield, 
Missouri. Their date was to a football game between two arch rivals, 
the Texas Longhorns and the Oklahoma Sooners. `Freddie' as John called 
her had another date with another suitor scheduled for that evening but 
she was so taken with John she cancelled the later date. John and 
Fredna got married October 29, 1954, in Dallas. After their nuptials 
Fredna moved to Springfield in southwest Missouri. Their children, 
Robert and Beth, grew up with the political commitment of their 
parents.
  Fredna campaigned for Richard Nixon in 1960 and took her daughter to 
a Nixon rally at the Ozark Empire Fairgrounds. Throughout the 1964 
presidential campaign, her children remember that she wore a gold 
elephant pin with black horn-rimmed glasses in support of Barry 
Goldwater. I didn't wear an elephant pin but 1964 was the first 
campaign I worked on as a nine year old in Springfield. I would ride my 
bicycle all over the neighborhood nailing `Goldwater For President' 
placards to telephone poles. Fredna's father was a physician who had 
the first EKG machine in Dallas, and after he read ``A Texan Looks at 
Lyndon'' published in March 1964 he shared it with Fredna.
  In the mid-1960's, she worked tirelessly for then-State Senator Jack 
Curtis' re-election, whose district lines had changed to include the 
whole of Greene County. Their phone bank was 3 rotary-dial telephones 
in the basement of Jack and Helen Curtis' home in Springfield with 
volunteers fueled by Helen's delicious brownies.
  Fredna was a Greene County, Missouri, GOP Committeewoman and local 
political organizer for many years, back in the day when all her voter 
records were on handwritten index cards.
  Fredna and John were instrumental in Southwest Missouri in the 
Republicans rise in Missouri including the election of Jack Danforth to 
Attorney General in 1968, Kit Bond as State Auditor in 1970, and Kit 
Bond for Governor in 1972. Over the past 50 years, Fredna supported 
numerous Federal, state and local candidates and GOP party committees' 
fundraising campaigns. In 2000 and 2004, Fredna supported John's 
efforts as a major national fundraiser for former President George W. 
Bush. She and John opened their homes on Catalpa and in Highland 
Springs and hosted or sponsored gatherings for former President George 
H.W. Bush, former Vice President Dan Quayle, former President George W. 
Bush, Lynne Cheney, Senator Roy Blunt, Senator Josh Hawley, Governor 
Mike Parson, Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft, Congresswomen Ann Wagner 
and Vicky Hartzler, former Senators Jack Danforth, Kit Bond and Jim 
Talent, and former Lt. Governor Peter Kinder.
  In our recently completed election cycle, Fredna, at 93 years old 
continued to support Republican candidates including myself for Senate 
along with Eric Schmitt for Senate, Eric Burleson for Congress in 
Missouri-07 and Erik Aadlund in Colorado-07 (whose father is the former 
Commanding General at Fort Leonard Wood). Her heart and head has not 
wavered from the mission of liberty, smaller government and free 
enterprise instilled in her many years before.
  Fredna had 58 years together with John, including in the political 
arena, until his passing in August 2013. She supported his more than 3 
decades of service as a Civilian Aide to the Secretary of the Army 
under 5 U.S. Presidents, traveling the world in support of the U.S. 
Army. The John Mahaffey Museum Complex at Fort Leonard Wood is a 
testimony to their joint faithfulness to our soldiers, as is their 
establishing the Operation Promises scholarship at Missouri State 
University for veterans who were injured in combat after September 11, 
2001.
  Fredna is most importantly a lifelong Christian, a strong believer in 
Jesus Christ as her Lord and Savior and a faithful member and supporter 
of First and Calvary Presbyterian Church in Springfield.
  Madam Speaker, Fredna has dedicated her life to so many great causes 
near to her heart, and I am proud to honor her today.

                          ____________________