Under the Dome

Under the Dome

Sen. Thom Tillis honors Dot Helms in Senate floor speech

By Colin Campbell

ccampbell@newsobserver.com

Sen. Jesse Helms, former Prime Minister of Great Britain Margaret Thatcher and Helms’ wife Dorothy during the official opening ceremony at the A.J. Fletcher Free Enterprise Building at the Jesse Helms Foundation in Wingate in 2001.
Sen. Jesse Helms, former Prime Minister of Great Britain Margaret Thatcher and Helms’ wife Dorothy during the official opening ceremony at the A.J. Fletcher Free Enterprise Building at the Jesse Helms Foundation in Wingate in 2001. Chuck Liddy NEWS & OBSERVER FILE PHOTO

U.S. Sen. Thom Tillis gave a Senate floor speech this week to salute Dot Helms, the wife of longtime Sen. Jesse Helms who died last week at age 96.

Helms, a controversial Republican, represented North Carolina in the Senate for decades. He died in 2008.

“I have the sad duty to report to the Senate of the passing of the First Lady of North Carolina, Dorothy ‘Dot’ Helms,” Tillis said on the floor . “Dot Helms and North Carolina are one and the same. Dorothy was the rock of her family.

“For her family and friends and a grateful nation, we can turn in comfort to the Second Book of Timothy: ‘I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.’ She will be missed so much, but the family rejoices that they had her for so long.”

Here’s a video of Tillis’ speech:

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