2022 -- S 2499

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LC004891

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     STATE OF RHODE ISLAND

IN GENERAL ASSEMBLY

JANUARY SESSION, A.D. 2022

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S E N A T E   R E S O L U T I O N

JOYOUSLY CELEBRATING THE 100TH BIRTHDAY OF MS. DORABELLE SMITH ON

FEBRUARY 21, 2022, AND THANKING HER FOR HER SERVICE TO OUR NATION

     Introduced By: Senator V. Susan Sosnowski

     Date Introduced: March 01, 2022

     Referred To: Placed on the Senate Consent Calendar

     WHEREAS, The year 1922, the year of Ms. Dorabelle Smith’s birth, was an important

time in American and World history. The Lincoln Memorial was dedicated, the BBC was formed,

the Irish Free State was established, famed Center Court was completed at Wimbledon, and the

“new technology” of radio was exploding across the United States and the world; and

     WHEREAS, Prices of goods in 1922 are hard to believe for folks of later generations. A

fresh chicken was only 30 cents a pound, lean fresh pork roast was only 12 cents a pound, eggs

were 35 cents a dozen, a sixteen ounce loaf of bread was only five cents, and a new frying pan

could be attained for merely ten cents; and

     WHEREAS, The world welcomed Ms. Dorabelle Smith on February 21, 1922. She was

born in Pennsylvania, and during World War II she enlisted in the United States Navy and went

to boot camp in the State of New York. She then proceeded to attend Tech School in Oklahoma

and served our nation with tireless devotion and distinction as an airplane mechanic at Quonset

Naval Air Station from 1942 to the end of the Second World War. While serving in the Navy,

Ms. Smith, whose maiden name was Johnson, was given the nickname of “Johnnie”, a name she

goes by to this day; and

     WHEREAS, After her service, Ms. Smith settled in Rhode Island where she and her

husband, Laurence Smith, raised three children. She later retired from the Navy Exchange and

has lived a very full and active life in retirement. One of the highlights of her retirement years

occurred on September 15, 2018, when she fittingly was chosen to be a member of the Honor

Flight, a nonprofit organization dedicated to transporting as many veterans as possible to see the

memorials of the wars they served in, at no cost to the veterans. Ms. Smith also had the honor of

being one of the veterans to lay a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, an event she says

she will never forget; now, therefore be it

     RESOLVED, That this Senate of the State of Rhode Island hereby joyously celebrates the

100th Birthday of Ms. Dorabelle Smith on February 21, 2022, and thanks her for her service to

our nation during World War II; and be it further

     RESOLVED, That the Secretary of State be and hereby is authorized and directed to

transmit a duly certified copy of this resolution to Ms. Dorabelle Smith.

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LC004891

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