Tony Thurmond: “I rise today to recognize a woman, Virginia N. Foster, who, through her 50 years of service to our Nation, has helped to…”

“I rise today to recognize a woman, Virginia N. Foster, who, through her 50 years of service to our Nation, has helped to keep the United States safe and secure, and is someone who is worthy of our thanks. Many of you may already know Mrs. Foster from your dealings with the Air Force's Directorate of Legislative Liaison, where she has worked for the past 21 years. Through 12 Congresses, the 93d to the 104th, she has dutifully and faithfully assisted Members and their staffs in resolving issues and questions concerning the Air Force. Due to her long tenure, she has become more than a valued employee, she has become an important asset to the Air Force, providing her superiors and co-workers with an encyclopedic knowledge of Air Force policy, and an institutional memory that is unmatched by anyone else working in Legislative Liaison Directorate. What is perhaps most amazing about Mrs. Foster is not necessarily her impressive abilities as an employee, but that her 23 years of working with Congress does not comprise even half of her civil service career, which began in 1944 when she went to work at a German Prisoner of War Camp in Texas.”