[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 160 (2014), Part 12]
[Senate]
[Page 17514]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                        TRIBUTE TO SHEILA DWYER

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, when Secretary Erickson steps down, so does 
the Assistant Secretary of the Senate Sheila Dwyer. Sheila has a long 
history in the U.S. Senate, but Sheila's time started long ago--and I 
am not going to talk about how long ago, but she was a Senate page 
during the time, of course, when she was in high school. But after her 
semester as a page, she, like all these young pages who are here for a 
semester, returned home to Connecticut. She loves to boast about the 
great State of Connecticut, and I have listened to her do that for many 
years. But her heart has always been with the Senate from the time she 
was a page, and so she returned after her education.
  Sheila got a degree from Suffolk University. She returned to the 
Senate in many different capacities, but we have had wonderful 
conversations about her time with Chuck Robb. She is a family friend of 
the Robbs--and I mean a family friend--very close to them. She later 
worked for Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan.
  I talked to his widow within the past couple of weeks. What a unique 
man Senator Moynihan was. There is a new book out about him, and I have 
asked my staff to get a copy of it, which talks about this unusual man. 
I am anxious to read it because he was brilliant, but also he had a 
few--he was eccentric in some ways. And Sheila loves to tell 
privately--and I will not repeat here on the floor--some of the things 
he did that would appear to a lot of us to be a little bit eccentric. 
But that was part of his unique quality and she handled him so well--as 
well as anyone could.
  She worked for another man with a huge personality: Senator Fritz 
Hollings. He would, even though he is over 90 years old, still be here 
in the Senate except his wife became ill. He is physically strong 
today, bright of mind, and I can hear this man's voice from where he 
stood. What a voice he had, a man who was the epitome of what a Senator 
should look like. He was a handsome man. I repeat, he had this great 
voice, and he was very tall, stood very erect. I was always very 
envious of how he could stand so tall, and he has such a sense of humor 
that is quite remarkable. Sheila is his friend. She visits him in his 
home in South Carolina now, and she has helped me keep in touch with 
Fritz Hollings.
  Then she worked for me. I was so fortunate. I was looking for someone 
to do my fundraising during a very difficult election I had before me. 
I knew who I wanted, but I didn't know that I could get her. Well, we 
worked things out. And it wasn't just because I offered her more money, 
it was because she wanted to work with me, and I am so happy that came 
to be.
  For 14 years, she has been part of my team--and I mean part of my 
team. During that entire time, she has done an incredible job doing my 
Senate business as a candidate. Doing Senate business here as the 
Assistant Secretary, she has been the best.
  So after having worked for the Senators I have mentioned, including 
me, when the time came to fill the role of Assistant Secretary of the 
Senate, she was a perfect candidate, and in this position she has not 
disappointed me once.
  Everyone who has ever worked with Sheila knows she is a meticulous 
planner. If you want something done--an event--and done right--and I 
mean done right: help setting up the program, what the flowers are 
going to look like, what the food is going to be, what time it should 
start, what time it should end--and she is very, very precise on when 
it should start and when it should end--we learned that last night 
during a farewell for a number of Democratic Senators--she really 
spares no effort, leaves no detail unattended.
  Her time here in the Secretary's office has been a smashing success. 
It is not easy to attend to the needs of 100 Senators--100 Senators--
Democrats, Republicans, Independents, their families and staffs, but 
Sheila handles it with skill and with grace. That is why many call her 
the ``Mayor of Capitol Hill,'' and for good reason.
  Whether she is escorting the President's daughter to the inauguration 
podium in her bright pink coat, or planning a ceremonial dinner in 
Statuary Hall, Sheila does the job exceptionally well.
  Just one example, 2 years ago the Senate hosted the screening of 
Steven Spielberg's now legendary film, ``Lincoln.'' There were some 
real big-shots there. Spielberg, Daniel Day Lewis, the guy that wrote 
the script--they were all there. So there were, frankly, a lot of prima 
donnas there, including of course all the Senators. So it was an 
exceptionally difficult feat to pull off, coordinating attendance for 
100 Senators who all wanted to go to see these famous people.
  She was preparing a panel discussion for the cast and crew, all while 
following strict Capitol protocols as to who could go where and what we 
could do in the places we went. But she had a secret weapon, and that 
was she. She didn't know it, but that was the secret weapon. She took 
care of every possible problem and coordinated every single detail, 
even down to a makeshift concession stand in the lobby. It was a 
wonderful event, a marvelous event, because for the briefest moment it 
brought the Senate together in the spirit of unity that we haven't had 
in some time. It all happened because of her.
  She is very devoted to her family, her mom Lois, about whom she has 
talked endlessly, and of course her deceased father. I was trying to 
help in comforting her as I could when she lost her mom Lois. I can't 
imagine how proud her parents would be--and are, from wherever they 
are, looking down on us--at the work that Sheila has done in her life. 
I know how proud I am of her now, as she prepares to move on to her 
next chapter of life, and I will do everything I can to help that 
chapter be a good one. I wish her the best.
  I, along with the entire Senate, thank her for the steadfast diligent 
service she has rendered as Assistant Secretary for the last 8 years.
  Sheila has a dog she loves, little Ava, and I hope she takes that 
little dog on a trip to have a good time. I am sure she will.
  On a personal note, I wish to say publicly how much she has meant to 
me. She has been really a part of my family the last 15 years. As most 
everyone knows, my wife was involved in a really bad accident. Who was 
there? Sheila. Battling, as she did for 1\1/2\ years, ravaging breast 
cancer, who was there? I would come home after having been unable to do 
the things around the house. I would have a refrigerator full of food. 
Not junk--it was wonderful food. She did that not once, not twice, but 
many, many times. She is my friend--my forever friend.
  She interacts with my children as if they were her siblings. She 
knows everything about them. So even though I will not see her at work 
every day, as I have for 14 or 15 years, she will always be part of my 
life.

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