[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 159 (2013), Part 12]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 17769]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




    RECOGNIZING THE HONORABLE ELAINE G. VANN ON THE OCCASION OF HER 
  RETIREMENT AS WASHINGTON COUNTY, NORTH CAROLINA'S REGISTER OF DEEDS

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. G. K. BUTTERFIELD

                           of north carolina

                    in the house of representatives

                      Wednesday, November 20, 2013

  Mr. BUTTERFIELD. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to congratulate the 
Honorable Elaine G. Vann on 31 years of service to the Washington 
County Board of Commissioners, office of the County Manager, and the 
citizens of Washington County, North Carolina. On December 1, 2013, Ms. 
Vann will retire as Washington County Register of Deeds.
  Elaine Vann began her tenure in public service on September 13, 1982 
as Assistant Register of Deeds, eventually becoming Certified on August 
18, 1994.
  On January 3, 1995, Ms. Vann was selected to assume the unexpired 
term of Washington County's then-Register of Deeds Greta H. Barber. 
Since then, Ms. Vann has run for election five times and has been 
elected to serve as Register of Deeds on each occasion. Her nearly 19 
years as Washington County's chief recorder of property records and 
vital statistics information have made her a strong force throughout 
the county and region.
  During her tenure, Ms. Vann served with 24 County Commissioners and 
seven County Managers. All along, she worked in earnest to implement 
changes made at the county level and also worked to keep pace with 
emerging technologies that fostered public disclosure and increased the 
ease with which citizens accessed information. To that end, she 
implemented a ``paperless'' office by scanning and digitizing documents 
and forms making working with the Register of Deeds uncomplicated and 
efficient and saving the county scarce resources.
  Ms. Vann was a member of the North Carolina Association of Register 
of Deeds (NCARD) and served District VIII on various NCARD committees. 
She has proudly served as its District Secretary, Vice-Chair and Chair. 
This year Ms. Vann was awarded the Shining Star Award by the NCARD at 
the State Conference in Pinehurst, North Carolina.
  A true testament to her active involvement in the community, Ms. Vann 
served as President of the Pungo River Volunteer Fire Department Ladies 
Auxiliary and was the first female board member of the Pungo River 
Volunteer Fire Department. She is a member of Zion's Chapel Church of 
Christ in Roper, the Washington County Executive Board of the Southern 
Albemarle Association, and the Family and Consumer Science Program 
Committee with the Washington County Cooperative Extension Agency.
  Ms. Vann and her husband, John, have two children--a daughter, Erin 
Vann Gaskill, and a son, Daniel Vann.
  Mr. Speaker, the work and contributions of the Honorable Elaine G. 
Vann will leave a lasting impression on Washington County. I ask my 
colleagues to join me in offering our sincere appreciation for her 31 
years of outstanding and dedicated public service and best wishes upon 
her retirement.

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