[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 161 (2015), Part 2]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages 2163-2164]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                            LIVES WELL-LIVED

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. RICHARD M. NOLAN

                              of minnesota

                    in the house of representatives

                      Wednesday, February 11, 2015

  Mr. NOLAN. Mr. Speaker, I rise to recognize four people from the 
Cromwell/McGregor area of Minnesota who just celebrated turning 100-
years-old or more. In some parts of the country, this would be in 
passing--but for Cromwell (population 231) and McGregor (population 
376) it is big news that this many legacy members of their communities 
have reached this significant milestone. It must be our good Minnesota 
water.
  When you stop to think about it, to be born 100 years ago, there were 
no tractors to plow the fields and automobiles were just starting to be 
built. Before that, people walked to town or

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took a horse-and-buggy. Most schoolrooms were in one-room buildings 
with an outhouse ``out back.'' Radio communication was just beginning 
and television had not yet been invented. Penicillin had not been 
discovered. There were not vaccinations for polio or other deadly 
childhood diseases. The idea of an airplane was but a dream and the 
thought of man landing on the moon was unfathomable. How exciting it 
must have been for them witnessing that first countdown as John Glenn 
was the first American about to orbit the earth.
  These citizens lived through two World Wars, the Korean Conflict, 
Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan.
  They were just coming of age when the Depression hit this country and 
struggled like countless others to have part of the American dream.
  They persevered.
  Each of them--Mary Dahlberg, Hjalmer Hutar, Ailie Costello and Viola 
Johnson took different paths in their lives. I congratulate each of 
them for the contributions they brought to their families and 
communities. They have been lives well lived.

                          ____________________