SEARCH SITE

VIRGINIA LAW PORTAL

SEARCHABLE DATABASES

ACROSS SESSIONS

Developed and maintained by the Division of Legislative Automated Systems.

2023 SESSION

23104372D
HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 653
Offered February 9, 2023
Commending Grace Anne Braxton.
----------
Patrons-- Durant, Guzman, Scott, P.A. and Ware; Senators: Ruff and Stuart
----------

WHEREAS, Grace Anne Braxton, a world-class golfer whose accomplishments in Special Olympics events and other tournaments have made her a living legend of the sport, was inducted into the Virginia Golf Hall of Fame on October 19, 2022; and

WHEREAS, Grace Anne Braxton’s early forays into sports included track and field, swimming, basketball, ice skating, and skiing, and she won gold and bronze medals in swimming at the 1991 Special Olympics World Games in Minneapolis-St. Paul just after graduating from high school; and

WHEREAS, Grace Anne Braxton took up the game of golf in her adolescence and has been playing for more than 30 years, honing her skills first alongside her father, H. Harrison Braxton, Jr., and now with a coach who closely studies her shots and instructs her on ways to improve; and

WHEREAS, Grace Anne Braxton’s meticulous devotion to her game has produced a plethora of championship wins and awards and made her the top-ranked Special Olympics women’s golfer in the world since 2007; and

WHEREAS, Grace Anne Braxton is a three-time Special Olympics USA Games women’s golf champion, winning in New Jersey in 2014, in Seattle in 2018, and in Orlando in 2022; and

WHEREAS, Grace Anne Braxton is also a three-time Special Olympics World Games women’s golf champion, placing first in China in 2007, in Greece in 2011, and in the United Arab Emirates in 2019; and

WHEREAS, a member of the Solheim Diversity Cup team at Gleneagles in Scotland in 2019, Grace Anne Braxton was also the U.S. Disabled Golf Association women’s champion in 2019 and 2021; and

WHEREAS, Grace Anne Braxton was invited this past year to the inaugural U.S. Adaptive Open at Pinehurst, where she finished first among women participants with an intellectual disability and fourth among all disabled women participants; and

WHEREAS, Grace Anne Braxton’s induction into the Virginia Golf Hall of Fame places her achievements on the links alongside those of golf greats Sam Snead, Curtis Strange, Lanny Wadkins, and Donna Andrews; now, therefore, be it

RESOLVED by the House of Delegates, the Senate concurring, That the General Assembly hereby commend Grace Anne Braxton, world-champion golfer, for her induction into the Virginia Golf Hall of Fame in 2022; and, be it

RESOLVED FURTHER, That the Clerk of the House of Delegates prepare a copy of this resolution for presentation to Grace Anne Braxton as an expression of the General Assembly’s admiration for her achievements and best wishes for her continued success.