Mr. President, I rise today to introduce a bill to rename the Lakeview Post Office after Dr. Bernard Daly. I am pleased to have my colleague Senator Wyden join me in this effort by serving as…
Mr. President, I rise today to introduce a bill to rename the Lakeview Post Office after Dr. Bernard Daly. I am pleased to have my colleague Senator Wyden join me in this effort by serving as original cosponsor of this bill.
Dr. Bernard Daly was an American country doctor, businessman, banker, rancher, state representative, state senator, county judge, and regent of Oregon State Agricultural College, today's Oregon State University. As early as 1888, Dr. Bernard Daly began actively encouraging young people to apply for college. When families could not afford the tuition, Daly quietly paid the bill.
During a Christmas Eve party in 1894, an oil lamp started a fire in a crowed community hall in the small town of Silver Lake, Oregon. Forty- three people were killed in the blaze, and many more were badly injured. Dr. Daly traveled by buggy from Lakeview to Silver Lake, a distance of 95 miles, over bad, snow covered roads to help victims of the tragedy. It took 24 hours of continuous travel for him to reach Silver Lake. Despite the long journey, he began treating burn victims as soon as he arrived, and continued without rest until everyone had been seen. Dr. Daly saved all but three of the badly burned persons, and his methods of healing were later published in detail in a medical journal. The fire was widely reported and written about in The Oregon Desert. Dr. Daly's efforts to reach and treat the victims earned state- wide recognition and many admirers.
When Dr. Daly died, he gave his fortune to the people of Lake County in the form of the Bernard Daly Educational Fund. Dr. Daly wrote in his will: ``It is my earnest desire to help, aid and assist worthy and ambitious young men and women of my beloved county of Lake, to acquire a good education, so that they may be better fitted and qualified to appreciate and help to preserve the laws and constitution of this free country, defend its flag, and by their conduct as good citizens reflect honor on Lake county and the state of Oregon.'' The fact that his will specifically directed that Daly scholarships be granted to women as well as men was very progressive for that era.
Each year, approximately 40 graduates of Lake County high schools receive Daly scholarships. To date, well over two thousand students from Lakeview and other Lake County communities have used Bernard Daly's generous scholarships to attend college. Dr. Daly's educational trust fund has financed college educations for generations of Lake County, Oregon students, a legacy that continues to this day.
I have received several messages from across the country and even one from Australia supporting the renaming of the Lakeview Post Office after Dr. Bernard Daly. Each one told a story of sincere appreciation for Dr. Daly's generosity.
We urge our colleagues to support this important piece of legislation.