[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 162 (2016), Part 2]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 1851]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]


                       TRIBUTE TO FRANCES GARLAND

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. BOB GOODLATTE

                              of virginia

                    in the house of representatives

                      Thursday, February 11, 2016

  Mr. GOODLATTE. Mr. Speaker, Frances Garland once stated that she 
thought of herself first as a housewife and desired to be only a 
successful mother. Her personal view of her life as it unfolded does 
not do justice to how much she was appreciated by so many whom she 
touched, whether family or friends. Frances was one of my longtime 
friends in Roanoke, Virginia and one of my constituents for the past 23 
years until she passed away on January 12 at age 91. The Roanoke 
community is grieving this loss and we continue to keep her husband of 
72 years, Bob, in our thoughts and prayers.
  As someone new to Roanoke in the mid-1970s, Frances and Bob were 
among the first folks I met when I moved to the Star City with my wife 
to work for Sixth District Congressman Caldwell Butler. I knew the 
Garlands for owning and operating Garland's Drug Store in Roanoke's 
Grandin Village and then came to know them even better because of the 
role that Bob played as a member of Roanoke City Council and the work 
that Frances did as a stalwart in the Republican Party. Feeling the tug 
created by her husband's political service, Frances volunteered in a 
variety of important capacities--as a precinct captain in Roanoke, for 
four years as leader of the Virginia Federation of Republican Women 
(VFRW) in 1972, as one of the first female members of the Republican 
Party of Virginia's State Central Committee, as an alternate delegate 
to the 1976 Republican National Convention, and as a Presidential 
Elector in 1992. Her leadership of the VFRW was instrumental in giving 
women more important political opportunities throughout the 
Commonwealth, opportunities that have broadened to this day. She even 
served three Virginia Governors on the Virginia Commission on the State 
of Women.
  Throughout her 91 years, Frances showed in everything she did that 
she was committed to being a loving wife and mother, to hard work, and 
to being a leader who displayed quintessential grace at every turn. My 
former boss, Congressman Butler, paid tribute to Frances in 1988 on the 
occasion of her receiving the Governor John N. Dalton Distinguished 
Service Award at the Virginia Republican State Convention. Congressman 
Butler said, ``We remember her for all the things she has done and all 
the offices she has held, but we admire her most for her great talent, 
and for her charm, patience, and quiet dignity with which she has gone 
about her tasks.''
  While her tasks on Earth are complete, Frances Garland leaves behind 
a wonderful family who loved her dearly, a whole host of friends who 
will miss the renowned get-togethers at the Garland home, and a wide-
ranging group of Republicans who will forever remember the invaluable 
contributions she made to making the party stronger in the Roanoke 
Valley, the Commonwealth, and our nation. And she did it all through 
digging in, doing the hard work, and with a talent for having others 
share in her love of it all.

                          ____________________