On the recordJune 4, 2014
I come today and I am honored to support my friend Sylvia Mathews Burwell. Sylvia is a native of West Virginia, and I have always said that we are all a part of our environment. If you know where Sylvia came from, the type of area where she was raised and the neighborhood, it will tell you everything about who she is today and why she has been so successful and why public service runs through her veins, truly giving something back. The little town of Hinton, WV, is where Sylvia is from. It is in beautiful Summers County in the southern part of the State. It is right on the New River. It is a train town. Trains will come there and dispatch, and they will get them turned around to go in the right direction. I will never forget when they introduced Sylvia. I think it was Senator Alexander who was speaking. He was talking about his father, who worked in the rail yard and was always responsible for turning the trains and getting them moving. I said: Well, one thing about that, Sylvia comes from a train town. She knows how to get the train on the track and how to get it moving in the right direction, and she has proven that. She is an unbelievable, blessed person. She is gifted, as smart as they come--a Rhodes scholar. In West Virginia we are so proud to have a person with those types of skills and the ambition to serve. Now we will get into a little bit about her mom and dad because it is really who she is.…
