[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 154 (2008), Part 18]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages 24252-24253]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




              COMMENDING THE ROME AREA HERITAGE FOUNDATION

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. PHIL GINGREY

                               of georgia

                    in the house of representatives

                      Wednesday, November 19, 2008

  Mr. GINGREY. Madam Speaker, I rise today to commend the Rome Area 
Heritage Foundation, which in 2003 commissioned Georgia artist Suzanne 
Royal to paint two reproductions of a portrait of First Lady, Ellen 
Axson Wilson. Mrs. Wilson spent her youth in Rome, Georgia where she 
met, courted and later married President Woodrow Wilson. Today, she is 
buried in the town she always considered her home--at historic Myrtle 
Hill Cemetery in Rome, Georgia, in the heart of the 11th District.
  The original portrait of the First Lady was a gift from Miss Martha 
Berry to the citizens of Rome and Floyd County to be permanently 
displayed in the Carnegie Library, forerunner of today's Rome Floyd 
County Library. One of the reproductions was donated in 2005 to the 
State of Georgia to hang in Georgia's Capitol.
  The second reproduction was donated this week by the Rome Area 
Heritage Foundation to the Hargrett Rare Book and Manuscript Library at 
the University of Georgia, to become

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a centerpiece of their permanent collection. As a Georgian who holds 
such a prominent place in history, it is only right that Mrs. Wilson's 
portrait hang in the library of our state's flagship public university 
and I am proud of the efforts of the Rome Area Heritage Foundation to 
ensure this portrait is preserved and accessible to generations of 
Georgians to come.
  This project was researched for the Foundation under the direction of 
Reverend Warren Jones of Rome, Georgia, and I commend the Foundation, 
Reverend Jones and the community of Rome for preserving the memory of 
one of Northwest Georgia's most distinguished citizens--and the only 
First Lady from Georgia's 11th District.

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