[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 119 (Wednesday, July 12, 2023)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2351-S2352]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                       Tribute to Elverda Lincoln

  Mr. SULLIVAN. Mr. President, it is my favorite time of the week here 
in the U.S. Senate. I like to come down on a regular basis and talk 
about the Alaskan of the Week. The Alaskan of the Week can be someone 
who is doing something great for their local community, their State, 
their country. Maybe it is someone who is helping to actually save the 
world. That is who we have today--someone who literally helped to save 
the world.
  Before we begin, I know we have some Alaskans in the Galleries here. 
Today, the Boys & Girls Club is in town, and we have some of our great, 
young leaders from my State who are here, and I am really glad to see 
them. It is appropriate, I think, as some of the Boys & Girls Clubs' 
awardees can probably be Alaskans of the Week soon, right?
  But I always like to begin my Alaskan of the Week remarks by just 
giving a little update of what is going on back home in Alaska. We are 
having a great summer. It is actually a really cold summer for us. The 
Sun is high in the sky. People are fishing. Tourists are flocking to 
our State.
  By the way, if you are watching on TV, come up to Alaska, and you 
will have the best vacation of a lifetime, I guarantee it. The midnight 
Sun is out, and the scenery is spectacular. Of course, we are a place 
of big skies, big places, a big ocean, big rivers, some of the most 
resilient, interesting, special people in the world, and some of the 
most patriotic. We have more veterans per capita than any State in the 
country.
  I have the pleasure of frequently speaking about our veterans in 
Alaska, about our military in Alaska. Many of them have been honored by 
being Alaskans of the Week. That is going to happen again today with a 
very special veteran, Elverda Lincoln.
  So let's talk a little bit about our Alaskan of the Week. She served 
in the U.S. Navy during the Second World War. And I am going to talk a 
little bit about a program, the WAVES Program. It is a very famous 
program, the Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service. That is 
the acronym, WAVES.
  Elverda is a World War II vet, an Alaskan pioneer literally. She is 
an author, a mother, a grandmother, a great-great-grandmother. She has 
such an amazing story, and here is the deal: She is turning 100 in a 
couple of days--100--and is still going strong.
  So let me spend a few minutes talking about this extraordinary woman 
who is such an inspiration to so many in Alaska and hopefully, after 
millions of Americans listen to this speech, to so many Americans 
across the country.
  Elverda was born in 1923 in Minnesota as the oldest of 14 kids. She 
was about 6 years old when the Great Depression began. Of course, it 
was a very tough time for most Americans. In her words, there was no 
work. Her family literally did not know where the next meal was coming 
from. They ate a lot of soup, she said, and when there was not enough 
to go around for the 14 kids her parents had to take care of, they just 
added water to the soup. They were tough times, but she and her family 
survived.
  She said, ``We,'' like so many other Americans, ``were all in the 
same boat.''
  After graduating from high school, Elverda worked for some time in 
Washington State, from working in a fruit cannery to waitressing, but 
none of these jobs gave her a sense of fulfillment or adventure or 
satisfaction.

[[Page S2352]]

  Then December 7, 1941, happened, and our great Nation was at war. So 
what did this young woman do? She said she noticed a huge sign in her 
local post office. You know what the sign was--one of the most famous 
recruiting posters ever. It was Uncle Sam literally pointing at her. 
Every day, she said she walked past that sign that said: ``I WANT 
YOU.'' She was a patriot, so eventually Elverda heeded Uncle Sam's 
call, and she joined the Navy--like I said, the WAVES Program. She was 
soon on a train to New York and on a journey then that took her across 
the country--a 5-day train ride.
  The WAVES Program was set up in 1942 by President Roosevelt to free 
up positions primarily stateside but very important positions. You are 
going to hear about what Elverda actually did for her country and the 
Navy so that male sailors could deploy overseas.
  So she got on a plane with eight other women who had also joined 
WAVES. They had to take turns sleeping on the floor of the lavatory for 
5 days because there were no assigned seats on this train going across 
our great Nation.
  There were 4 weeks of boot camp--tough duty--from 4:30 a.m. to 9:30 
p.m. every day for 4 weeks straight.
  When she completed boot camp, Elverda was filled with a sense of 
accomplishment and patriotism. She had done something hard, something 
fulfilling, something worthwhile. Beyond that, she felt connected with 
her fellow WAVES. These were sailors in the U.S. Navy, women sailors. 
Then, of course, she was connected with probably one of the most 
important causes our country has ever undertaken--to win World War II 
and free the world from tyranny and oppression.
  Her confidence soared, she said, when she received her Navy uniform 
and her $50-per-month paycheck--a lot of money back then. She was first 
stationed in Seattle. Get this: Her job was to keep track of the exact 
locations of U.S. ships and enemy ships and planes throughout the 
Pacific. She then was transferred to Tongue Point Naval Air Station in 
Astoria, OR. At this point, of course, the Pacific theatre--the war in 
the Pacific--was in full force.
  She aided in modifying, updating, and correcting naval communications 
manuals. She helped to code a great deal of radio signals and manuals 
that were used in battles like the Battle of Iwo Jima and were also 
used in the invasion of the Aleutian Islands by Japan. A lot of people 
don't know that Alaska was actually invaded by the forces of Imperial 
Japan and occupied in the Aleutian Islands. Our military had to go 
fight brutal battles in the Aleutian Islands to kick out the Japanese 
on American territory, our great State.
  It was only after the war that Elverda realized the great importance 
of what she had done. Like I said, she is an Alaskan of the Week who 
helped save the world--literally helped save the world.
  She saw her time in the Navy as a great transition in her life, where 
she found out what hard work and dedication and patriotism were all 
about. And, importantly, she also met her husband, Bob Lincoln, a U.S. 
marine--so we know Elverda has very good taste by marrying a U.S. 
marine--while he was stationed in Oregon.
  Both Elverda and Bob wanted to live a continued life of adventure and 
travel, so after the war in 1950, with one child already born and 
another one on the way, they packed up their car, and they drove north 
to the great State of Alaska. Now, it wasn't a State back then. It was 
still a territory, but you get the picture. They wanted an Alaskan 
adventure, and they got it. They settled in the Matanuska Valley in the 
town of Wasilla on a homestead.
  Elverda and her husband Bob added to Wasilla's population, which, 
back then, was 100 people. It is much bigger today. They felled trees. 
They built a cabin. They built a life. They raised three wonderful 
kids. Bob did everything from dairy farming to putting up telephone 
lines to being a butcher. And, of course, they fell in love with 
Alaska.
  ``It's like one big family,'' Elverda said. ``Our friends range from 
the preachers to the alcoholics and everybody in between.''
  Eventually, Elverda began to write about her life in Alaska--some 
funny and some very serious stories about life on the homestead in the 
Last Frontier. She has written four books so far; and talking to her, 
you have no doubt that she has at least four more in her.
  Unfortunately, her husband, Bob, passed away. But before he did, he 
and Elverda traveled the world, something that she continued to do 
until recently.
  Elverda now lives in the senior center in Wasilla, and she stays 
busy. She walks every day. She quilts for charities, including Quilts 
of Valor and quilts for Children's Place. During COVID, she made masks.
  She has 5 grandchildren, 19 great-grandchildren, and 2 great-great-
grandchildren. In her hundred years of life--hundred years of wisdom--
Elverda attributes her longevity to the following--and this is a great 
lesson for everybody: living healthy, staying active, being positive, 
and staying out of other people's business.
  ``I've loved every minute of my life,'' Elverda recently said. And 
what a life it has been.
  So, Elverda, thank you for your service to our country. Thank you for 
your service in the U.S. Navy in WAVES, to the great State of Alaska, 
and to Wasilla. Thank you for being such a positive inspiration for so 
many. Happy hundredth birthday from the U.S. Senate. And, of course, 
congratulations on the great honor of being our Alaskan of the Week.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Rhode Island.
  Mr. WHITEHOUSE. Mr. President, I always consider it good fortune when 
I come to deliver remarks on the Senate floor and get to follow Senator 
Sullivan's Alaskan of the Week speeches.
  His discussion of his constituent Elverda reminds me of a very, very 
dear person in my life, Florence Kerins Murray, born just a little bit 
ahead of Elverda--1916--but like Elverda, served in the U.S. military. 
She was a WAC--Women's Army Corps--lieutenant colonel and then broke, 
essentially, every glass ceiling you could break in Rhode Island 
politics and in the Rhode Island judiciary, becoming a very respected 
Rhode Island Supreme Court Justice.
  So I will take the liberty of joining my colleague Senator Sullivan 
in wishing his constituent a happy birthday, but I also wanted to share 
the memory of a very dear Rhode Islander who I think would have gotten 
along very well--I would like to be a witness, a fly on the wall, to 
the conversation between Florence and Elverda.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Alaska.
  Mr. SULLIVAN. To my friend and colleague from Rhode Island, I will 
gladly pass along your birthday greetings to Elverda. Thank you very 
much.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Rhode Island.