[Congressional Record Volume 171, Number 87 (Thursday, May 22, 2025)]
[Senate]
[Page S3112]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      REMEMBERING KAREN ALEXANDER

 Mr. BUDD. Mr. President, I rise today to memorialize a servant 
leader of the great State of North Carolina. Mayor Karen Alexander of 
Salisbury went to her heavenly home far too soon on Sunday, December 
29, 2024, at the age of 73 years young. Her colleagues and I will 
remember her as a loving, caring, and kind leader, always putting the 
needs of her city and the people she served above herself. She lived 
her life by the teachings of the Apostle Paul to Timothy: ``And a 
servant of the Lord must not quarrel but be gentle to all, able to 
teach, patient, in humility correcting those who are in opposition, if 
God perhaps will grant them repentance, so that they may know the 
truth,'' 2 Timothy 2:24-25.
  As an architect by trade, she founded her firm in 1989, where she led 
numerous renovation and design projects across the city. She was first 
elected to the city council in 2013. Not long after, she began serving 
as the mayor of Salisbury from 2015 to 2017 and later returned to the 
office in 2019. And she served as the president and board member of the 
North Carolina League of Municipalities.
  Her initiatives as mayor brought new life to Salisbury's historic 
downtown area, improved public safety, and made life better for the 
city's residents. Throughout her career in public service, she was 
known for building consensus with class and grace.
  Her relationships with her colleagues are described as being 
genuinely invested in the success of others. Her loving family will 
remember her as nurturing and supportive. As her daughter-in-law, 
Christy Mason Almazan, shared, ``Karen had a way of making you feel 
like the very center of her attention. Her love was immense, and her 
presence was radiant.''
  The motto for the State of North Carolina is ``Esse Quam Videri,'' 
Latin for ``to be rather than to seem.'' I believe that Mayor Karen 
Alexander of Salisbury truly lived up to that standard and set the bar 
even higher.
  Now, I ask that you join me in a moment of silence to honor the 
memory of Mayor Karen Alexander, a great North Carolinian who dedicated 
her life to public service.

                          ____________________