[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 9]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages 13256-13257]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




   CELEBRATING 100TH BIRTHDAY OF MRS. LILLIAN BIJOU (THORTON) REVORD

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. BART STUPAK

                              of michigan

                    in the house of representatives

                         Thursday, May 17, 2007

  Mr. STUPAK. Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor a constituent who 
has led a remarkable life. On Sunday, Mrs. Revord's family and friends 
will come together to celebrate and observe her 100th birthday, 
celebrating the rich life of Mrs. Lillian Bijou (Thorton) Revord.
  Over the course of her life, Mrs. Revord has truly seen the history 
of northern Michigan unfold before her, while she herself led a life 
rich in experience. As a child, Mrs. Revord attended the Methodist 
Church in Morristown, Michigan. The church has now been removed as an 
historical site to Grayling, Michigan, but the church gave her a strong 
anchor of faith to guide her.
  In the spring of 1918, Mrs. Revord first moved north to Michigan's 
Upper Peninsula, U.P., specifically, Grand Island in Alger County. 
While young Lillian was just 12 years old on Grand Island, her father 
worked as a teamster for a logging company and her mother did the 
camp's laundry and cooking. In the fall of 1918, Lillian and her family 
moved to the mainland so that she and her sisters could attend school.
  On the mainland, in Munising, Michigan, a few years later, Lillian 
met Orville Revord. As she tells it, Lillian and her best friend, Leta, 
were walking down the Munising City Dock. Some young men were nearby 
and one of them took note of Lillian's pigtails by commenting, ``Well, 
if this one isn't a cute bunch of `Onion Tops!''' This teasing remark 
was the first interaction between the two, who started dating when 
Lillian was 15.
  In 1924, Orville and Lillian eloped and were married in Rapid River, 
Michigan. Lillian was 17 and Orville was 20. Lillian's friend, Leta and 
Lillian's cousin James served as witnesses. There were no wedding 
showers or receptions, Lillian did not have a special wedding dress 
(just a satin dress she had made for herself for the 4th of July) and 
the couple's wedding gifts were a pair of pillow cases from Leta and a 
week's board and room from Lillian's sister, Zeph. As Lillian recalls, 
the Reverend Kitchen performed the ceremony. Before the ceremony, the 
Reverend looked up over his spectacles to say to the young couple, ``Do 
you two kids know what you are doing?'' Nonetheless, Orville and 
Lillian were married. Apparently the two did ``know what they were 
doing,'' as their marriage would ultimately produce five children and 
last 66 years. As Lillian says, ``We had nothing to start a long 
married career with, but we had our love and commitment and our 
marriage endured for better or for worse and both categories got a good 
workout!''
  One of the challenges Orville and Lillian would face during the 
course of their marriage was the Great Depression, which hit five years 
after they were married. Orville's job on the railroad was whittled 
down to two days a week and the young couple, already working to raise 
two children, was surviving on $11.52 every two weeks. Their two sons, 
Orville Jr. and Billy, would sit on the sidewalk waiting for their 
father to come home from work swinging his lunch bucket, which held a 
piece of a sandwich that Orville Sr. had saved from lunchtime for the 
two brothers to share. Despite these challenges, the Revord family 
would persevere and persist during these dark times, a testament to the 
love and commitment between Orville and Lillian and of their faith.
  Throughout her entire life, Lillian has remained a passionate lover 
of art and an active painter. She was the first Munising artist to be 
hired by the Munising Woodenware and was the last to be laid off, 
following the financial demise of her employer. Lillian's artwork has 
been cherished by locals and visitors to Munising, alike. Today, one 
can occasionally stumble upon one of her painted antique woodenwares on 
the Internet, for a considerable price. Lillian also worked for some 
time as a telephone operator for the Munising Telephone Company, until 
electronic switching was innovated.
  While Lillian has remained active throughout her life pursuing a 
range of pursuits and challenges, early in life, she did not have the 
benefit of much formal education. Nonetheless, at

[[Page 13257]]

the age of fifty, she returned to High School to take courses in typing 
and drivers' education, another testament to her strength.
  Madam Speaker, on Sunday, the Munising community, Mrs. Revord's 
friends and her family will gather in the basement of the local 
Methodist Church, a fitting location for a woman who has made faith 
such a cornerstone of her life. Together, they will congratulate her on 
her many accomplishments over her many years. As Mrs. Revord's 100th 
birthday is celebrated, I would ask that you join me in congratulating 
her and in wishing Mrs. Lillian Revord, her children, Orville, Jr., 
Raoul, and Joanne and her many grandchildren all the best.

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