[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 154 (2008), Part 4]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 5199]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




         TRIBUTE TO 100TH BIRTHDAY OF MRS. BESSIE (DAVIS) WYNN

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. CORRINE BROWN

                               of florida

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, April 3, 2008

   Ms. CORRINE BROWN of Florida. Madam Speaker, I rise today to pay 
tribute and to celebrate the 100th birthday of Mrs. Bessie (Davis) 
Wynn, a poet, born April 5, 1908 in Carr, Florida.
   Mrs. Wynn is the daughter and second child of James Stephen Davis II 
and Annie Elizabeth Ware Davis. As a child she went to school at St. 
Paul AME Church in Blountstown, Florida since there were no other 
school systems available to Black children there. She first started 
doing poetry as a child when she noticed that the other children were 
not doing well with their Easter speech. She prayed to God to give her 
the power to help them, so she memorized all their speeches so that if 
they forgot a word she would be able to tell them. This was the 
beginning of a calling that has expanded for most her life. Her first 
poem she recited was ``I'm Methodist bred and Methodist born, and when 
I die I'll be Methodist gone.'' As she learned poems she would mix 
other things in them to give them more flare. She moved to Pensacola 
when she was a teen to work and help out at home, but had to return to 
help take care of her siblings when her mother died.
   In 1925 she married Reverend Samuel Wynn and had four children, one 
son, Samuel Jr. (deceased), and three daughters, Mary Catherine, Annie 
Laura, and Jimmie Ola. She lived in different places because her 
husband was a minister and settled down in Blountstown where she has 
lived in the same house for more than 70 years. In her younger days she 
made and sold jewelry as well as working in the lunch room at Mayhaw 
School. She was a den mother for FHA and made the basketball uniforms 
for the first girl's team at Mayhaw. She was elected as queen of St. 
Paul AME Church and won the talent competition in the Golden Girls 
contest held in Blountstown.
   She worked for almost 40 years for the Hollinger family where she 
was forced to retire after out-living her employers. She was in her 80s 
at the time of her retirement. She also took in laundry and was a 
seamstress as well.
   Mrs. Wynn is best known for her poetry and recitations, which she 
has performed along the eastern seaboard, including New York, and in 
Bermuda. She is now a great-great grandmother and still continues to 
delight audiences with her recitations and her quick wit and 
entertaining personality. I am privileged to honor the life of this 
centenarian and life long Floridian. Happy Birthday Mrs. Wynn and best 
wishes.

                          ____________________