June 6, 2019 - Issue: Vol. 165, No. 95 — Daily Edition116th Congress (2019 - 2020) - 1st Session

[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E721]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




             REMEMBERING THE LIFE OF MRS. NANNIE E. WILKINS

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                         HON. SALUD O. CARBAJAL

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                         Thursday, June 6, 2019

  Mr. CARBAJAL. Madam Speaker, today I rise to celebrate the life of 
Mrs. Nannie E. Wilkins, a matriarch of CA-24's NAACP Chapter. Mrs. 
Wilkins was described as ``a social justice and human and civil rights 
champion,'' because of her hard work fighting for equal rights in the 
Central Coast.
  Nannie Elizabeth Browning was born in Mebane, North Carolina on March 
13, 1927 to John Henry Browning and Annie Pearl Richmond. As a young 
woman, she studied at North Carolina AT&T and earned a bachelor's 
degree in Business Administration and Commercial Education--an 
extraordinary accomplishment for women of color at the time. In 1951, 
Nannie E. Browning married Smiley Edward Wilkins, a member of the U.S. 
Air Force. Nannie was an ambitious go-getter; she encouraged Smiley to 
become an officer and used her education and fiscal know-how to raise 
and run the family.
  In 1972, after Smiley retired from the military, the Wilkins family 
moved to Lompoc, where Nannie continued her life in community and 
public service. She selflessly served as a hospice volunteer and on the 
Executive Committee of the Santa Maria-Lompoc Branch of the National 
Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) for more than 
forty-three years.
  Alongside her husband, former President of the NAACP, she tackled 
race-based discrimination in their community. She was a Silver Life and 
Golden Heritage member of the NAACP, serving as the Communication, 
Press & Publicity Chair. Among her valiant strides towards justice, she 
also served as a Diaconate at the Valley of the Flowers United Church 
of Christ for thirty years and was a dedicated member of Lompoc Alpha 
Club for twenty-five years.
  Nannie passed away on May 9, 2019 at her home in Lompoc, California 
at the age of ninety-two. Her soul and legacy as a Civil Rights 
champion lives on in her loving family, her friends, and every 
community member liberated and inspired by her courageous efforts.
  Madam Speaker, I am honored to join the nation and the Wilkins Family 
in celebrating the special life of Nannie Elizabeth Wilkins.

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