[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 145 (Friday, October 7, 1994)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: October 7, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
                        TRIBUTE TO IRVIN WOLOCK

                                 ______


                       HON. CONSTANCE A. MORELLA

                              of maryland

                    in the house of representatives

                        Friday, October 7, 1994

  Mrs. MORELLA. Mr. Speaker, I rise to pay tribute to the late Irvin 
Wolock, a past president of the American Society of Plastic Engineers, 
who died tragically last month, and to bring to your attention a moving 
eulogy by Rabbi Joel H. Zaiman.
  Irvin Wolock, of Silver Spring, Maryland, died September 23 after 
being injured in a traffic accident. A researcher at the Naval Research 
Laboratory, he was a civic leader in Montgomery County, serving at one 
time as president of the Montgomery County Civic Federation and of the 
Rosemary Hills Civic Association. In 1964, he received the Washington 
Star Newspaper Cup Award for his civic activities. He was a friend who 
added luster and strength to the phrase ``Civic Activist.''
  Rabbi Zaiman's eulogy is a wonderful tribute to Irv Wolock, and I am 
taking the liberty of enclosing portions of it. The text of the Eulogy 
follows:
       It is hard to imagine, let alone believe, that Irv Wolock 
     is not alive. It is not so much that he died so suddenly, it 
     is that he was so alive, that it is hard to imagine him any 
     other way. You can't even comfort yourself by pretending that 
     Irv is napping or sleeping and maybe, somehow, miraculously, 
     he will wake up.
       Because, you never thought of him napping or sleeping in 
     the first place. No . . . you thought of him being, acting, 
     doing, asserting, insisting.
       Tall, thin, his was a commanding presence. you knew he was 
     there. Even when he was quiet. Perhaps, because he was so 
     often silent. those who knew him, knew he would have the last 
     word. Yet, the sense of his commanding presence was felt even 
     by strangers who did not know that Irv would eventually let 
     you know how he felt. To be more accurate, how he thought. 
     Not often did Irv express his deepest feelings. That was 
     hardly his style. It was his thinking that he freely shared.
       And, which, with rare exception, carried the day. He was 
     bright, well trained--a PHD in Engineering from Hopkins, 
     ordered, orderly and organized, well read in his chosen field 
     and researched well in whatever he ventured . . . he wanted, 
     he expected his opinions to prevail. And, they did.
       Irv was a man who expected. High expectations. Of himself, 
     first. He loved to work. He loved his work. He distinguished 
     himself in that work. With the National Bureau of Standards. 
     Thirty-five years with the Naval Research Lab. He was an 
     expert in composite plastic materials, becoming the President 
     of the Society of Plastic Engineers. He authored numerous 
     scientific articles and received numerous awards. He worked 
     on the Manhattan Project an did field research after the 
     atomic blasts in the Bikini Islands. He really achieved. High 
     expectations. He pushed himself.
       Others, too. Particularly, his kids. Five A's and one B. 
     Why the B? demanding. Tough. He was devoted to his children--
     Janet, Bruce, Joanne. He would do anything for them. He was 
     more than willing to sacrifice for them. And, how fiercely 
     they loved him. Valued him, appreciated him. How hard they 
     tried to please him--and how accomplished they are. He loved 
     them and was proud of them--notwithstanding the fact that it 
     was not Irv's style to verbally profess that love and pride.
       That was left for Shirley. She took care of that, and a lot 
     of other things, too. for 43 years . . .
       And, in that neighborhood where Irv grew up, and in that 
     home where Irv grew, he acquired another, more significant 
     passion. Social justice. He was not only a chemical engineer. 
     He was, to his everlasting credit, a social engineer--and, 
     the two, do not often go together. He had a keen sense of 
     justice. He had a clear vision of how things should be. He 
     was committed to and worked for a ``kinder and gentler 
     society'', well before it became a political slogan. . . .
       He was active, very active, in the civic life of Montgomery 
     county were Shirley and he lived. President of various civic 
     associations. Chosen as outstanding citizen of Montgomery 
     County. Ran as an independent--fat chance of success--for the 
     Montgomery County Council. But, Irv made his point. And, that 
     is precisely what he wanted to accomplish. On all fronts, he 
     was a man to be reckoned with. In his profession, in his 
     community--as a citizen, and in his family. . . .
       So along comes Parkinson's disease to challenge Irv Wolock. 
     A disciplined, health conscious, life affirming man. A 
     fiercely independent soul who could not take from others. . . 
     . Parkinson's. It slows you down. Irv, denied he had it. He 
     continued as though he did not. He loved life. He wanted 
     desperately to live. He had to be in control. And he would be 
     damned if he would allow something like Parkinson's to 
     challenge that control.
       It was tough. There is an inexorability to Parkinson's. 
     Since Irv was so active, and since he did so many different 
     things, he was more aware than most of that inexorability--
     though he denied it throughout. There was nothing he could 
     not fix. Or, did not fix. Parkinson's changed that. It was 
     very hard for Irv and for those who loved him.
       He didn't know how to yield. Giving up was not in his 
     nature. Some people go through life accepting and blaming 
     circumstances. Irv, created circumstances. Parkinson's was 
     tough.
       And then . . . he took the route that he told Shirley and 
     his children never to take. Undoubtedly, in a crunch, he took 
     it himself before. This time, the mistake was fatal. Yet, he 
     did beat the ravages of Parkinson's.

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