[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 158 (2012), Part 7]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages 10048-10049]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                  IN RECOGNITION OF GERTRUDE KNOWLTON

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. WILLIAM R. KEATING

                            of massachusetts

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, June 26, 2012

  Mr. KEATING. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor Gertrude Knowlton of 
Oak Bluffs, Massachusetts, who celebrated her 100th birthday this year.
  Gertrude was born on January 13, 1912. The youngest of four children, 
she grew up in the greater Boston area. She lived and raised her family 
there, eventually relocating to Southborough. In 1990, she moved to 
Martha's Vineyard with her daughter and has lived on the island ever 
since. There, Gertrude enjoys displaying her watercolor paintings in 
local fairs, as well as reading new bestsellers as soon as they arrive 
in the local library. Even as a centenarian, she has maintained a very 
active and busy life on the Vineyard.
  Born just months before the Titanic sank and Fenway Park opened, 
Gertrude's story is truly a living history of major American events. 
She has lived through two world wars, Prohibition and the Depression, 
the Cold War and the Civil Rights Movement. She recalls seeing five-
cent silent movies and attending big-band concerts led by Guy Lombardo 
and Rudy Valee. She remembers being voted ``best dancer'' in high 
school and of dressing in the flapper style of the 1920s as a teenager. 
During World War II, she worked at a drugstore

[[Page 10049]]

lunch counter in Milford. Gertrude grew up in a time before automobiles 
or airplanes were commonplace and before most people had landlines or 
radios in their homes, but lived to see a man walk on the moon and the 
establishment of instant worldwide connectivity through the Internet.
  Gertrude raised six children--five of her own as well as a teenage 
girl who she took in--and has seen her family grow by four generations. 
She has three surviving children, thirteen grandchildren, twenty-eight 
great grandchildren and four great-great grandchildren. Gertrude 
believes that the secret to living to the age of 100 is always to have 
a good attitude toward life, and I couldn't agree more.
  Mr. Speaker, I am proud to honor Gertrude Knowlton as she celebrates 
this joyous occasion. She is an extraordinary member of our community 
and I ask that my colleagues join me in wishing her many more years of 
health and happiness.

                          ____________________