Mr. BERRY. Mr. Speaker, I think it is fitting and proper that we are here today to proceed with naming a post office in Jonesboro, Arkansas, for Senator Hattie Caraway. She obviously was the first to do a lot of things. She was the first woman ever elected to the United States Senate in her own right. She was the first woman to chair a Senate committee, the first woman to take up the gavel on the Senate floor.
She was said to be called ``Silent Hattie'' by her colleagues in the Senate; and when asked why she avoided making speeches, and those of us that serve in this distinguished body I am sure can identify with this, she said, ``The men have left nothing unsaid.''
She might have gotten very tired sometimes of hearing it said over and over again, but she served with great distinction, not only the State of Arkansas but this wonderful Nation that we all represent, and broke the way for many people to do some good things.
She was a resident of Jonesboro, Arkansas, for nearly 50 years. She reared her family there, attended church, and actively participated in the Jonesboro community and civic organizations. Her husband, of course, was a United States Senator and was responsible for getting the post office set up on the Arkansas State University campus. The Caraways were great friends with V.C. Kays, the founding president of Arkansas State University. One year at Christmas, when Thad was dressed as Santa, Hattie supposedly jokingly locked him out of the party.
She made history again recently by becoming the first Arkansasan to ever appear on a stamp. On February 21, 2001, in Little Rock, the 76 cent Hattie Caraway definitive stamp was unveiled, which was the third in the Distinguished Americans series.
The new Hattie Caraway station will be an expansion of delivery services for the postal service in Jonesboro, Arkansas. It will be presided over by the postmaster, Hillrey Adams, who will do a wonderful job of expanding these services; and, again, it is fitting and proper that we name this station after Senator Hattie Caraway and congratulate her and those that have come after her for the wonderful job that she did.
