[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 163 (2017), Part 8]
[Senate]
[Page 11039]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                    REMEMBERING BARBARA ANDREWS-MEE

  Ms. MURKOWSKI. Mr. President, this Saturday Alaskans will observe 
``Ted Stevens Day,'' a living memory to Alaska's greatest Senator, who 
left us 7 years ago next month. As family, friends, and former staffers 
of Senator Stevens gather in Alaska for this annual observance, many 
will take time off on Thursday to honor a beloved member of the 
Stevens' team, Ted's loyal assistant and State director, Barbara 
Andrews-Mee, who passed away earlier this year. I will not be able to 
attend this event because the Senate will be in session on Thursday, 
but I wanted to take this opportunity to speak in memory of this loyal 
and dedicated employee of the U.S. Senate, as well as great friend of 
Alaska.
  Barb's tenure with Senator Stevens long predates his Senate service. 
Barb began working with Ted in 1962, 2 years after she came to Alaska. 
She followed him to the Alaska Legislature and the U.S. Senate, 
retiring in 1997. Upon her retirement, Stevens said, ``For half of my 
life--and two-thirds of hers--Barbara Andrews-Mee has been my boss. . . 
.'' Barb returned the compliment noting that she had been with Ted 
Stevens longer than she had been with three husbands.
  Barb had a great sense of humor and a huge and welcoming personality. 
She was regarded as a mentor and grandmother-like figure to generations 
of young staffers who went to work for Senator Stevens.
  She could sure turn a phrase. Alaska humorist Mike Doogan published a 
few of Barb's quips in the Anchorage Daily News to celebrate her 
retirement. Among them, Barb, who was 5-feet tall, once said, ``I tell 
people I used to be 6-foot-2, and then I went to work for Stevens.'' 
But she wasn't always so humble. Another ``Barbism'' was ``[m]y 
grandmother always told me dynamite comes in small packages.'' I am 
told that one came in handy when she was working difficult constituent 
problems to successful conclusion and building Ted's brand in the 
process. Whether it was Norwegian stubbornness or Alaskan toughness, 
she got the job done.
  That seemed to be her second best characteristic from Ted's 
standpoint. In his May 21, 1997, floor tribute to Barb, Senator Stevens 
said, ``When I've been asked what her best characteristic is, I say 
`loyalty'. That means more to me than any of the help that she's given 
me and the people of Alaska over more than three decades; work above 
and beyond the call of duty.''
  Barb was quite the worker, delivering care packages to visiting 
dignitaries whose flights were refueling at what was then called 
Elmendorf Air Force Base, picking up Senator Stevens at what is now 
called Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport, whatever the hour, 
and making sure he made the flight back to Washington, and supporting 
servicemembers and military families.
  It wasn't all work though. Barb actually christened a Navy PC8 
coastal patrol craft, the USS Zephyr. She flew in an F-15, experienced 
several aircraft carrier landings, and traveled in the submarine, USS 
Alaska. Then there was golf. In 1995, Barb married Vince Mee, her 
longtime golfing partner. Senator Stevens performed the ceremony on the 
ninth hole on Eagleglen golf course on Elmendorf. In 2010, Barb 
authored a book, ``Ted Stevens and Mee,'' a memoir of her time working 
with the man they called Alaskan of the Century.
  Barb lived a wonderful life--or as she might put it, ``A great 
ride.'' Devoted to her wonderful family, to her church, and to 
community service, she came far from humble beginnings in South Dakota, 
leading to a long drive up the Alcan to Glennallen, AK, and a path to 
Alaskan greatness. One of the first women in Rotary and a member of the 
Athena Society of Anchorage, Barb's contributions and leadership will 
be long remembered.
  On behalf of the Senate family, I extend my continued condolences to 
Barb's family and friends this week as Alaska reflects on her great 
legacy.

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