[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 16]
[Senate]
[Page 22645]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                     TRIBUTE TO ELIZABETH S. RUNNER

  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I rise today to honor a respected 
Kentuckian, Mrs. Elizabeth S. Runner. On August 25, Mrs. Runner will 
turn 100 years old.
  Mrs. Runner was born in Arkansas and moved to Warren County, KY, when 
she was just an infant. Her early years were not without struggle. She 
lost her father at the age of five, and her mother died during the flu 
epidemic that swept across the country in the early part of the last 
century. She was raised by her maternal grandmother.
  At an early age, Mrs. Runner recognized the importance of a good 
education, and she pursued her passion for teaching. In 1925, she began 
her teaching career at Indian Creek, a one-room school in northern 
Warren County. She later transferred to the Richardsville School, where 
she taught until 1965. Over the course of her 40-year teaching career, 
she touched the lives of many Kentucky schoolchildren and their 
families.
  In addition to being a devoted teacher, Mrs. Runner is a wife, 
mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother. She married J. Elvis Runner 
on June 28, 1930, and they were happily married until his passing in 
1997. They raised two sons, Randall S. Runner and Phillip J. Runner. 
She has one granddaughter, Karen Elizabeth Runner, and two great-
grandsons, Kory and Wren.
  Mrs. Runner is a woman of faith and a founding member of the Rays 
Branch Church of Christ congregation. Kentuckians admire Mrs. Runner 
for her dedication to teaching, her family, her faith and her zest for 
life. I understand that Mrs. Runner's family and friends will gather on 
Sunday, August 26, to celebrate and honor her reaching the rare and 
marvelous milestone of a 100th birthday. I ask my colleagues to join me 
in sending Mrs. Runner well-wishes and congratulating her on her 
centenarian status.

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