[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 161 (2015), Part 13]
[House]
[Page 18418]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




            HONORING THE LIFE OF MRS. DOROTHY ``DOT'' HELMS

  (Mr. ROUZER asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. ROUZER. Mr. Speaker, I pay tribute today to the extraordinary 
life of one of America's finest women who recently passed on to be with 
our Creator. Mrs. Dorothy Helms, also known to many of us as ``Dot,'' 
was the long-time best friend and wife of the late U.S. Senator Jesse 
Helms.
  As a member of the Helms Senate family, I grew to know both of them 
very well.
  Senator Helms asked me one day, he said: ``David, do you know where I 
get all my good ideas?'' Without giving me a second to respond, he 
said, ``Dot, you know.''
  For those of us who knew the two well, Dot was, in fact, the 
conservative of the family, and a strident and forceful communicator of 
her opinion on all matters.
  Dot Helms was a trailblazer in her own right. She was one of the 
first women to graduate from the University of North Carolina with a 
degree in journalism and later went on to work for the News & Observer 
as a society page editor.
  Meanwhile, Jesse Helms was there working as a sports reporter. The 
rest, of course, is history, and the two of them helped change history.
  As much as Dot Helms will be missed by all of us, something tells me 
the tall, lanky fellow from Monroe, North Carolina, is delighted to 
have her back at his side.

                          ____________________