[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 151 (2005), Part 19]
[Senate]
[Pages 25440-25441]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                             HELEN BOOSALIS

 Mr. NELSON of Nebraska. Mr. President, I rise today to pay 
tribute to a person who has been instrumental in making Lincoln, NE, 
one of the great capital cities in America.
  Helen Boosalis served on the city council before unseating an 
incumbent to be elected mayor of Lincoln, NE, earning her the 
distinction of being the first woman in America elected to the position 
of mayor in a city with a population of more than 100,000 residents.
  As mayor of Lincoln from 1975 to 1983, Helen Boosalis was a member of 
the U.S. Conference of Mayors where she became one of the first women 
to become president of that organization.
  Three years after leaving the mayor's office, Helen Boosalis won the 
Democratic nomination to run for Governor of Nebraska in a race where I 
had the honor of being her campaign chairman. She faced Kay Orr, who 
was Nebraska State treasurer at the time in what was the first woman-
versus-woman gubernatorial campaign in American history.
  She didn't win but she didn't give up her desire for public service 
and helping people who are in need.
  Helen Boosalis went on to serve as president and chairman of the 
board of directors of the American Association of Retired Persons and, 
as such, had the opportunity to testify before Congress as she 
championed the causes of the Nation's senior citizens.
  Since leaving that position, Helen Boosalis has tirelessly devoted 
herself to volunteering her services to help one worthwhile cause after 
another.
  Her generosity even earned her a quote in the 2004 ``Giving is 
Caring'' inspirational calendar which included quotes from such 
notables as Albert Einstein, Martin Luther King, Jr., Thomas Jefferson, 
Ronald Reagan, Eleanor Roosevelt, Confucius, and Aristotle. Her quote 
goes to the spirit of voluntarism. It read, ``America has had a long 
and rich tradition of generosity that began with simple acts of 
neighbor helping neighbor.''
  As an octogenarian, Helen Boosalis continues to serve her fellow 
Nebraskans with so much abundant energy that once caused one of her 
colleagues to describe her as a ``Whirlwind.''

[[Page 25441]]

  Her honors are far too numerous to mention from the prestigious 
Midlander of the Year to Nebraska Woman of Distinction, but the honor 
she will receive this Sunday in the city she loves may be the best yet 
even though on the surface it appears to be quite humble.
  Lincoln, NE, is a pedestrian friendly city with a beautiful and 
extensive network of hiking and biking trails that can trace their 
roots to Helen Boosalis' leadership as mayor.
  On Sunday, November 13, 2005, the section of trail along Nebraska 
Highway Two where the entire system began in the mid 1970s thanks to 
Helen Boosalis' vision as mayor will be named in her honor.
  A tree will also be planted as living testimony for decades of 
Nebraskans to come that they owe the tremendous system of trails that 
those in Lincoln continue to enjoy to the leadership of Mayor Helen 
Boosalis.
  In closing, I would like to quote from the invitation for this 
Sunday's event:

       It was once said that Helen Boosalis has governed this city 
     with graciousness, with tenacity, with determination, with 
     understanding, with ability, with hope, with vision, with 
     fairness, and with many other valued attributes. Now it's 
     time to honor her with the naming of Helen Boosalis 
     Trail.

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