Vernon Ehlers: “I was amazed at Ms. Millender-McDonald in a number of ways. You just heard the previous speaker talk about her grace and…”

“I was amazed at Ms. Millender-McDonald in a number of ways. You just heard the previous speaker talk about her grace and elegance. That was apparent from the moment you saw her and talked to her. She and I became rather good friends because it happened that her father was a pastor, and my father was also a pastor. There is a special bond between preachers' kids or PKs as they are called, and we used to jokingly discuss the need to develop a PK caucus in the Congress so that we could address major issues of the times, particularly those with a moral or human content to them. Our friendship continued over the years, and I have to confess, I was continually amazed at new things I discovered in Juanita Millender-McDonald. First of all, just imagine being born African American in 1938 in Alabama and becoming the first African American woman to chair a committee in the Congress. That is a long and difficult road, and she traversed that road, once again, with elegance and grace. After having five children, she went back to school, received a bachelor's degree and then became a teacher.”