[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 148 (2002), Part 8]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages 11346-11347]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                TRIBUTE TO THE HONORABLE FRANCES MEADOWS

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. NATHAN DEAL

                               of georgia

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, June 25, 2002

  Mr. DEAL of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I rise to convey my deep sympathy 
and condolences to the family of Frances Jenkins Meadows, a 
distinguished public servant who passed from this life on April 21.

[[Page 11347]]

  Ms. Meadows was a remarkable pioneer and role model to many. As a 
single mother of three, she was working at a local production plant 
when she developed the notion to return to school at night. She 
enrolled at Lanier Tech to study data processing. While there, she 
began working part-time at neighboring Gainesville College in records 
administration, using her freshly learned skills in the pre-computer 
era. Impressing the college officials, she accepted full-time 
employment in the Registrar's Office at the college, thus beginning a 
thirty-year career there. She retired in 1999 as Assistant Director of 
the Office of Financial Aid.
  Ms. Meadows' pioneering was not limited to her chosen profession. In 
1992, she became the first African-American to ever be elected to the 
Hall County Board of Commissioners. She was re-elected, without 
opposition, in 1996 and 2000. She was concurrently elected vice-
president of the Association County Commissioners of Georgia and 
appointed to the Georgia Environmental Facilities Authority.
  Long a mainstay in her beloved St. John Baptist Church where she 
taught Sunday school, she was a member of the senior choir and singles 
ministry. Community honors included Drum Major of the Year, Rotary's 
Jean Harris award and the Distinguished Alumni Award of Gainesville 
College.
  Mr. Speaker, Frances Meadows will long be remembered for her warm 
smile, her friendly hug, her unabashed devotion to her family and her 
church and, in her public life, her high integrity and love of public 
service. One song from a memorial service, ``Go Rest High Upon That 
Mountain,'' speaks volumes for many of us who knew her well; we know 
she is resting high on that mountain as we toil to carry forward her 
ideals and all the goodness in her life that we admired.
  It is well remembered that, as her cortege proceeded through the 
bustling streets of Gainesville, Georgia, on the day of her burial, the 
community stilled. Legions of admirers, and many who did not know her 
personally, stopped their lives to pay their final respects to this 
fine woman. Frances Jenkins Meadows, a pioneer and proud servant of the 
Lord and His people.

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