[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 163 (2017), Part 4]
[Senate]
[Page 4713]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                       TRIBUTE TO BARBARA VACHON

  Mr. CASEY. Mr. President, today I wish to honor Barbara Vachon, who 
retired this March after 16 years of service to the Senate. For as long 
as I have been in the Senate, with just a 2-month exception, Barb has 
served as my executive assistant and my right hand.
  Barb's service to the Senate began in 2001, when her friend Trecia 
called and offered her a temporary position in Senator Jim Jeffords' 
office. In New Hampshire at the time, Barb decided she would take a 
chance and try out life in Washington, DC. Barb thought she was coming 
down to Washington for a 2-month assignment, answering phones and 
staffing the front office until the office could hire someone right out 
of college, but Barb quickly became an invaluable member of Senator 
Jeffords' team. Eventually, she became the Senator's executive 
assistant, working alongside him every day until his retirement from 
the Senate in 2007.
  Barb's first year in the Senate included Senator Jeffords switching 
parties, 9/11, and the anthrax and ricin scares. Any one of these 
events might have given a different person a reason to leave the 
Senate, but Barb stayed and worked as hard as ever. When Senator 
Jeffords retired in 2007, Barb helped Senator Bernie Sanders' office 
learn the ways of the Senate for 2 months, after which she joined my 
office.
  From day 1, Barb was always the person who made the trains run on 
time in my office. Barb had the challenging and sometimes impossible 
task of keeping my day on schedule, while at the same time juggling 
phone calls, personal notes, briefing memos, and any number of 
inquiries that came across her desk. There were even a few times where 
she managed to track down particularly old and rare library books at my 
request. No matter the task at hand, Barb approached her work with good 
humor and a can-do attitude that impressed everyone.
  Barb's contributions in my Senate office are immeasurable, but I 
thought it was worth trying to quantify some of the ways in which she 
has served the people of Pennsylvania and our Nation. During her decade 
of service to Pennsylvania, Barb welcomed more than 200 ambassadors, 
dignitaries, and administration officials to my office, drafted more 
than 500 letters, and greeted over 1,000 Pennsylvanians at my 
``Keystone Coffees.'' She acted as a mentor and support system for all 
my staff members, and befriended everyone she worked with in the 
Senate. Everyone, from the Capitol Police officers she passed on her 3-
block commute, to the photographers in the Senate Photo Studio who 
patiently waited while Barb shepherded our constituents for photos, 
knows how valued Barb was to our team and to me personally.
  Having been in the Senate long before I was, Barb understood how to 
balance the everyday needs in the office with the overall goals we set 
for ourselves when we first began our service here. Barb provided 
everyone in my office, myself included, with the important perspective 
that is often lost here in the Senate: it is easy to get bogged down in 
details or small problems, but the work we do here is important, 
lasting, and honorable. Barb never lost sight of how fortunate we are 
to work in this institution, and I know our team is grateful to have 
always had that reminder.
  It is hard to imagine my office without Barb, but I know she will 
enjoy her retirement, whether she is home in New Hampshire or traveling 
the world. I wish her and her children, Heather and Michael, well in 
this new chapter.

                          ____________________