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Congressional RecordPROCEEDINGS AND DEBATES OF THE 109th CONGRESS, FIRST SESSION

House of Representatives


October 18, 2005
 
Willie Vaughn Post Office
 
Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Chicago for yielding me this time. 

Madam Speaker, I rise today to urge my colleagues to support H.R. 3853, legislation which would designate the postal facility in Parkdale, Arkansas, which is located in Arkansas' Fourth Congressional District, the "Willie Vaughn Post Office."  This bill has the unanimous support of the Parkdale City Council and its mayor, and I would like to personally thank them for their help with this: Mayor Glenda Wells, and to the City Council, Louis Mitchell, Mark Hawkins, Paula Files, and Evora Parker. 

Willie Vaughn, known to friends and family as "Uncle Dude,"' spent most of his life giving back to this small town located near the Ashley and Chicot County line in southeast Arkansas, just a few miles north of Louisiana.  Mr. Vaughn is an active member of his local church, helping not only to build the church but also serving in many leadership positions over the years. 

I can think of no person more deserving of this prestigious honor than Willie Vaughn.  Mr. Vaughn embodies the definition of "giving back to your community.''  At 101 years of age, Mr. Vaughn has spent a lifetime, or one might say over a century, working to improve Parkdale through dedication to the CME Church, as a civil rights leader working to remove racial barriers, lending an ear to friends and family throughout the community, throughout southeast Arkansas, and, yes, throughout America.  He did so as a school bus driver, as a farmer, as a devoted husband and father. It is evident that Mr. Vaughn's commitment and dedication to his church, to civil justice, and to community service has made a lasting impact on the Parkdale community and its people. 

Willie Vaughn has served as a role model to many young people who grew up in this small town of 377 people, people like the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Davis), who now resides in Chicago but grew up in Parkdale, people like the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Davis), who have gone on to do great things all across America because of the way their lives were shaped and influenced by Mr. Willie Vaughn. 

The Willie Vaughn Post Office will stand for decades and generations to come as a testament to Mr. Vaughn's life and the influence, the impact he has made on so many people from all across this great country that spent a little bit of time growing up in that southeast Arkansas community that we call the town of Parkdale. 


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