[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 163 (2017), Part 1]
[Senate]
[Page 1162]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                       TRIBUTE TO EILEEN DUBOWSKI

  Mr. SULLIVAN. Mr. President, Alaska is a beautiful State--the 
mountains, the seas, the glaciers, the wildlife. Most in this room and 
many watching on TV have seen my State on TV shows, on reality shows. 
Almost everybody talks about at least someday coming to visit. We love 
tourists, like the Presiding Officer does. So please come. You will 
have a great experience, guaranteed.
  But what makes my State particularly special is the people--kind 
people, tough people, generous of heart, and, yes, people with a lot of 
opinions. My State is filled with people who are strong-willed and 
strong-hearted, creating caring communities in some of the harshest 
environments in the world.
  As part of an initiative that I am doing to highlight some of these 
great Alaskan citizens, I would like to recognize this afternoon Eileen 
Dubowski as the Alaskan of the Week. She is someone of a strong mind 
and a strong heart, and she has helped to make her community and our 
State a better place.
  Eileen lives with her husband in a cabin in Salcha, AK, near the 
Fairbanks area. This year, this area of my State has experienced some 
brutally dangerously cold temperatures. Recently, it was 59 degrees 
below zero near Salcha. That is cold, 59 below zero. Yet, in my State, 
people work in such weather, they give to their communities, they reach 
out and watch over their neighbors.
  Eileen has been both a special education and regular education 
teacher for almost 40 years. She is currently at University Park 
Elementary School. To better communicate with her students, she went to 
night school to learn American Sign Language. She is active in her 
church and particularly active in Interior Alaska high school wrestling 
helping dozens and dozens of students. She has been so involved over 
the past 40 years in this important activity that she was recently 
elected into the State of Alaska Wrestlers Hall of Fame. An article in 
the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner quotes her as saying: ``Wrestling can 
take any sized kid and they can be successful.''
  Congratulations, Eileen, for helping dozens and dozens of kids of all 
sizes in Alaska and making them successful.
  She stated: ``When you help each other it makes living up here 
easier,'' in the colds of Alaska. The same could be said about anyplace 
in America.
  So thanks, Eileen, for helping make life easier, for your service, 
and for being this week's Alaskan of the Week.

                          ____________________