[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 144 (Tuesday, September 17, 2024)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6093-S6094]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     TRIBUTE TO MARY LOUISE QUINBY

  Ms. CANTWELL. Mr. President, I rise today to wish a very happy 
birthday to Mary Louise Quinby, a wife, mother, grandmother, great-
grandmother, and great-great-grandmother, from Ocosta, WA. Mrs. Quinby 
turned 100 years old on August 26, and she continues to be the driving 
force within her family, which now consists of 8 children, 30 
grandchildren, 56 great-grandchildren, and 5 great-great-grandchildren.
  Born August 26, 1924, Mary grew up on a small family farm. In 1942, 
during World War II, she married her high school sweetheart Robert, and 
while he served in the Navy, Mary worked as a Rosie the Riveter in a 
local shop in Aberdeen.
  After the war, Mary and Bob settled in Bremerton, where Bob worked in 
the shipyards as a machinist. In 1948, Mary's uncle, a cranberry grower 
in Grayland, encouraged her husband and brother Jack to try their hand 
at farming cranberries. They bought their first bog of two acres from 
her uncle and moved their small family to Grayland.
  During the years after their first cranberry bog purchase and until 
the early 1970s, they bought about 23 acres of bogs. Mary supported her 
husband while he worked his second job as a machinist in a local plant 
by weeding, irrigating, and doing frost protection when necessary.
  In the early 1970s, Bob became ill, and they started selling portions 
of their bogs to their oldest son, Robert P. Quinby. During this time, 
Mary--mostly by herself--farmed about eight acres. She raised a bumper 
crop, and it topped the highest yield on that acreage. She never let 
her husband forget it.
  Her husband was the West Coast director for Ocean Spray for many 
years, during which time Mary played an instrumental role in teaching 
other farmers about Ocean Spray and cranberry farming.
  During all of that time, and through today, her family has remained 
her top priority, and the legacy of that 1948 decision to become a 
cranberry farmer has been passed down in her family. Today, two sons, 
one daughter, and eight grandchildren grow cranberries.
  From their first purchase in 1948 of two acres, Mary's descendants 
have

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amassed close to 275 acres in the Grayland area and are busy training 
the next generations of cranberry owners.
  Mary is a shining example of the American dream and beloved by all 
who know her. Her dedication to her family, her community, and her 
farms is obvious, and I wish her the happiest of birthdays.

                          ____________________