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[Pages H2679-H2680]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
RECOGNIZING KIM CHAMBERLAIN
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from
California (Mr. LaMalfa) for 5 minutes.
Mr. LaMALFA. Mr. Speaker, I rise this morning to recognize my good
friend Kim Chamberlain for her service to Shasta County.
Kim was born and raised in a pear orchard just out of Seoul, South
Korea,
[[Page H2680]]
during the Korean war. She is a refugee and a survivor of the war. Kim
eventually married a U.S. Army medic, Paul Chamberlain, and came to the
United States in 1971.
As a new resident, Kim's goals in America were to learn English,
drive an automobile, and get a job. After working as a strawberry
trimmer at Lassen Canyon Nursery for several years, Kim went to school
and earned her cosmetology license in 1978. In 1981, Kim opened a
beauty salon, a shop she owned until 2012. I wish it were still open
right now.
In 2012, Kim was diagnosed with breast cancer, but she is a fighter
and a survivor in getting through it--very admirable. After entering
remission, Kim became a local cancer awareness activist, helping others
and meeting with other breast cancer survivors for encouragement and
support.
As the wife of a veteran and a war survivor, you won't find a bigger
champion for veterans' issues than Kim Chamberlain. I don't know of
anybody who works harder to advance the causes for our veterans and be
sure they are properly honored on Veterans Day and Memorial Day.
She is one of the fiercest advocates for bringing a veterans clinic,
a veterans cemetery, and a veterans home to northern California in
Shasta County. She helped raise funds for an endowment that actually
pays for landscaping at the Northern California Cemetery and served on
a nonprofit board that built a memorial chapel there.
A 29-year member of both the VFW Auxiliary and Northern California
Korean War Veterans chapter, Kim hosts an annual luncheon to honor and
thank Korean war veterans in the area. They come from far and wide to
be part of this. I have taken part in several of those.
2020 marks the seventieth anniversary of the beginning of the Korean
war, and this year would have been the 30th annual luncheon Kim would
have hosted to show appreciation for the Korean war veterans.
Unfortunately, this is yet another event that has been wiped out by the
coronavirus pandemic.
Kim's work on behalf of veterans has been recognized by the city of
Anderson, the Anderson Chamber of Commerce, Shasta County, and even the
Prime Minister of South Korea.
Kim's story embodies the American Dream. She has worked hard and is
always working to help her community many, manyfold over.
More than her contribution to local veterans or support of local
cancer survivors, Kim is a wonderful friend to me, to many, all who
come in contact with her. She, indeed, is a blessing to us who know her
and those who have come in contact with her and have been helped by
her.
I wish her all the best, and God's blessing upon Kim in everything
she does as a neighbor in northern California.
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