Madam Speaker, I thank Representative Gill for yielding me time. Madam Speaker, I rise today in strong support of my bill, H.R. 4707, a bill renaming the post office in Fort Madison, Iowa, after…
Madam Speaker, I thank Representative Gill for yielding me time.
Madam Speaker, I rise today in strong support of my bill, H.R. 4707, a bill renaming the post office in Fort Madison, Iowa, after Martin L. Graber, a patriot who lived his entire life in the indelible service to his State, his community, and our Nation.
For 32 years, Martin Graber rose through the ranks of the Iowa Army National Guard, rising to the rank of brigadier general. Even beyond that, he and his wife, Coni, were almost the sole organizers of the Tri-State Rodeo, which happens every single year. It is a massive event in southeast Iowa. He and his wife, Coni, made sure that the rodeo was there, the horses were there, and the vendors were there. It is something that is looked forward to every August by everybody in the tristate area.
In addition to that, following his three-decade-long tenure serving our Nation in the Iowa Army National Guard, he served in the Iowa State House, working with his colleagues to better the lives of hardworking Iowans.
Every step of the way, he embodied the values we hold so dear in Iowa. Faith, family, and selfless work to his community, his State, and his Nation, things that we hold so dear, were the foundations for which Martin Graber lived.
Renaming the post office in Fort Madison in his honor is a small but everlasting gesture of appreciation for a man who spent his life serving his State and his Nation in the most decent and noble way possible, his service to our country.
As someone who had the blessing of working with Martin, I am deeply proud to be leading this effort, alongside my colleagues in the Iowa delegation and his family, to honor a man who gave everything to his community and to his country.
Madam Speaker, I ask my colleagues to strongly vote ``yes'' on this bill.
