[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 159 (2013), Part 6]
[House]
[Pages 8882-8883]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                             VIOLA MEEKINS

  (Mr. CRAWFORD asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute.)
  Mr. CRAWFORD. I rise today to recognize Viola Meekins and her 
lifetime of service to her community and to the State of Arkansas.
  The life of Mrs. Meekins will be remembered in every corner of 
Arkansas County as well as in the halls of Upchurch and McRae High 
Schools in Prescott and by her classmates of Philander Smith College.
  When Mrs. Meekins and her husband, George, first moved to Stuttgart 
in 1958, he became the principal of the former Holman School. Mrs. 
Meekins was the school's secretary as well as a teacher. After 
desegregation in 1971, the couple moved to Stuttgart High School. Even 
though Mrs. Meekins retired from teaching in 1989, her work in the 
community was just beginning. She spent countless hours volunteering at 
many places, including at the Holman Heritage Community Center. Upon 
the

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passing of her husband, George, Mrs. Meekins was appointed to fulfill 
his term on the quorum court and went on to serve for over 20 years.
  In closing, I want to highlight the reason Mrs. Meekins sought a 
career as a teacher: to add value to the lives of the students and 
their families she taught. The life of Mrs. Meekins will live on, Mr. 
Speaker, and I hope that everyone who came in contact with Mrs. Meekins 
will honor her legacy by finding ways that they, too, can add value to 
the lives of those they come in contact with on a daily basis.

                          ____________________