June 26, 2019 - Issue: Vol. 165, No. 108 — Daily Edition116th Congress (2019 - 2020) - 1st Session

[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E852-E853]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




            HONORING REBECCA A. SMITH OF THE CAPITAL GAZETTE

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. JOHN P. SARBANES

                              of maryland

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, June 26, 2019

  Mr. SARBANES. Madam Speaker, I include in the Record an obituary of 
Rebecca A. Smith, an advertising assistant for the Capital Gazette in 
Annapolis, Maryland.

                        [From the Baltimore Sun]

Rebecca A. Smith, Capital Gazette Advertising Assistant Who Held Family 
                   and Friends at Center of Her Life

                      (By Frederick N. Rasmussen)

       Rebecca Ann Smith made sure family, friends and workplace 
     colleagues were the center of her life. They brought her joy, 
     and those who knew her say she returned it abundantly.
       ``Everyone loved her,'' said a cousin, Tammy Kaskel of 
     Dundalk. ``Becca was always patient, supportive and never 
     jealous or envious. She'd do anything for anybody and didn't 
     have a mean bone in her body.''
       ``She had such promise in life,'' said an uncle, Thomas A. 
     Malinowski. ``She was a good kid and never got into 
     trouble.''
       Ms. Smith, who worked as an advertising sales assistant for 
     the Capital Gazette, lost her life in the June 28 attack on 
     the newspaper's Annapolis office. She was 34 and lived in 
     Dundalk.
       Ms. Smith was born in Baltimore and raised in North Point 
     Village and later Fort Howard.
       The daughter of Richard Smith and Beth Ann Malinowski, she 
     was raised by her maternal grandparents, William Malinowski, 
     a driver for County Ride, and Catherine Malinowski, a 
     homemaker.
       ``I was very young then. I don't know what I would have 
     done without them,'' said her mother, now Beth Rittenour, of 
     Warren, Ohio. ``Rebecca was such a beautiful person, and 
     she'll always be in my heart forever.''
       Ms. Smith attended Battle Grove Elementary School and 
     graduated in 2001 from Sparrows Point High School, where she 
     excelled in field hockey, ran cross country and was an avid 
     duckpin bowler.
       ``She also loved community theater and played the character 
     A Star to Be in `Annie.' She was in middle school then,'' 
     said Ms. Kaskel, who conducts a performing arts camp and 
     works with special-needs children. ``She had such a great 
     voice, was very supportive, and wanted to see others 
     succeed.''
       Mr. Malinowski, who also lives in Dundalk, recalled his 
     niece being a Pink Floyd fan when she was little. ``I'd put 
     on a Pink Floyd tape and she'd scoot her chair up to the 
     TV.''
       He said she also enjoyed camping.
       ``She always wanted to go with me,'' he said. ``I'd take 
     the neighborhood kids and other nieces and nephews, and we 
     had a lot of fun.''
       ``Our grandparents were very proud of Becca because she was 
     the first person in our family to go to college,'' Ms. Kaskel 
     said. ``She was a graduate of Villa Julie College, where she 
     earned a degree in marketing.''
       Ms. Smith held marketing positions with Press Box and the 
     old Maryland General Hospital--now the University of Maryland 
     Medical Center Midtown Campus--before joining the Capital 
     Gazette last November as an advertising assistant.
       ``I found her to be a person of tremendous potential, and 
     it is sad that we will never see her live up to that,'' said 
     Marty Padden, the newspaper's advertising director. ``We're 
     just heart-broken.''
       Ms. Smith suffered from endometriosis, a tissue disorder, 
     and referred to herself on Facebook as an ``Endo Warrior.''
       ``It was very debilitating, but she still came to the 
     office and soldiered on through it,'' Mr. Padden said. ``She 
     had a great sense of humor and was so charming.''
       Ms. Smith met and fell in love with Dewayne Poling, and 
     they were engaged to be married. On Facebook, she called him 
     her ``softball fiance'' and attended Mr. Poling's games and 
     traveled to team tournaments. She also wrote of Mr. Poling's 
     daughter from an earlier relationship as being ``the best kid 
     ever.''
       ``Becca wanted to get married and have her own family,'' 
     Ms. Kaskel said. ``When she met Dewayne, he was what she had 
     been waiting for.''
       Kelli Peleska of Hanover, who played softball with Mr. 
     Poling, told The Baltimore Sun in a June 28 interview that 
     Ms. Smith had ``the biggest heart.''
       ``Not only was Rebecca our advertising assistant, she grew 
     to become a close friend of mine,'' said Eleni Stylianou, a 
     colleague who lives in Annapolis. ``She was always so sweet 
     and willing to help. She was a loving future stepmother to 
     her fiance's daughter.''
       ``She was always talking about her fiance's daughter, about 
     moving and her medical issues. We talked every day,'' said 
     close friend Selene San Felice of Baltimore, a Capital 
     Gazette reporter who survived the shooting. ``Rebecca was 
     strong--that's the first word that comes to mind, and she was 
     so kind.''
       Her grandmother died in 2004 and her grandfather in 2011. 
     She was ``devastated,'' Mr. Malinowski said. ``It hit her 
     real hard.''
       Ms. Kaskel said she continually returned to the center 
     point of her life: her family.
       ``She was always there at family events, and always had 
     been involved with my children, who are now grown,'' she 
     said. ``She was godmother to my two daughters.
       ``She'd go to their dance recitals; you would never 
     expected her not to be there,'' Ms. Kaskel said. ``She'd be 
     there Christmas Eve and Christmas morning to watch my kids 
     open their gifts.''
       A visitation for Ms. Smith will be held from 2 p.m. to 4 
     p.m. Sunday at the Duda-Ruck Funeral Home, 7922 Wise Ave., 
     Dundalk, and again from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m., with a memorial 
     service following.
       In addition to her parents, uncle, cousin and fiance, Ms. 
     Smith is survived by another uncle, William Malinowski of 
     Essex; a brother, Steven Rittenour of Fredericksburg, Va.; 
     two sisters, Jamie Rittenour of Warren Ohio, and Cindy 
     Rittenour, also of Fredericksburg; and numerous other 
     cousins.

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