[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 146 (Saturday, October 8, 1994)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: October 8, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
                     TRIBUTE TO CONGRESSMAN ROWLAND

                                 ______


                               speech of

                      HON. SANFORD D. BISHOP, JR.

                               of georgia

                    in the house of representatives

                       Thursday, October 6, 1994

  Mr. BISHOP. Mr. Speaker, when the Speaker gavels the 103d Congress to 
a close, the House of Representatives and the delegation from the great 
State of Georgia will bid farewell to our delegation's dean and a man 
who is arguable the most effective legislator Georgians have ever sent 
to Washington.
  In the mid-1970's, Dr. Roy Rowland noticed that physicians like 
himself were missing from the legislative process yet essential to many 
of the issues facing Americans. And so in 1976 Roy sought election to 
the House of Representatives. Since then, he has dutifully represented 
the needs of all Georgians, particularly the people of the Eighth 
Congressional District.
  During much of his service in the House, Congressman Rowland was the 
only Member of Congress with a degree in medicine. His insight and 
participation in the health care debate has been regarded by many as 
the most learned and thorough. While I regret the fact that Congress 
will not have the opportunity to act on Roy's health care reform 
proposal before he leaves, his wisdom and hard work has provided those 
of us who will continue to carry that responsibility a foundation on 
which the Congress can build and enact a solid reform bill.
  A native of Georgia, Roy was born in the town of Wrightsville, where 
he attended the local high school that shared the town's name. A 
varsity letterman in both basketball and football, he, like me, is also 
an Eagle Scout. Upon graduation, he was honored as the best all-around 
student of his high school class.
  Young Rowland's college education at Emory University was quickly 
interrupted by World War II. Serving the United States Army in Europe, 
Roy earned a bronze star for crossing a river under heavy enemy fire in 
order to save American troops pinned down on the opposite bank.
  When he returned to the States, Roy married his high school 
sweethheart and lifetime friend Luella Price. Luella's patience and 
support, I am told, helped Roy make it through the rigorous years at 
the Medical College of Georgia and his internship in Macon, where the 
midnight oil frequently burned into the early mornings.
  And that midnight oil has continued to burn in room 2134 of the 
Rayburn House Office Building, where Roy and his staff have worked 
tirelessly to provide the people of the Eighth Congressional District 
with a sound and reasonable representative voice in Washington while 
provide middle and southern Georgians with effective legislative 
skills.
  Other than laying the foundation for comprehensive health care 
reform, perhaps one of Roy's biggest contributions was a bill he 
authored to ban nationwide the prescribing of the highly addictive 
methaqualone, known on the street as the quaalude. With Roy's hard work 
and medical knowledge, millions or Americans have been spared the 
addictive horrors that accompany that drug's use as quaaludes are today 
virtually unobtainable.
  Roy has served his fellow American veterans as chairman of the 
Veterans' Affairs Hospitals and Health Care Subcommittee, of which I am 
a member. Roy has worked hard to make sure that veterans suffering from 
the mysterious Persian Gulf syndrome are not ignored as were our troops 
who returned home ill from Southeast Asia after being exposed to agent 
orange and other chemicals.
  His accomplishments are innumerable, Mr. Speaker, but to illustrate 
how effective a leader and legislator Congressman Roy Rowland has been, 
I offer this figure; 80 percent of the bills Roy has authored have been 
made into law.
  From health care to veterans issues to budget reduction, Dr. Roy 
Rowland has always provided the proper prescription to remedy the 
problems that have confronted Americans over the past two decades.
  On behalf of the people of Georgia, the members of the Georgia 
delegation, and all of the Members of Congress, I would like to thank 
Roy for his wisdom, his guidance, and his exemplary commitment to his 
constituents. His work ethic has been, and even in his absence, will be 
the measure by which Georgia legislators, will be judged.
  As the doctor's successor I prescribe this medicine: Take two aspirin 
before you get to Washington, because you will have a tough time 
filling Dr. Roy Rowland's shoes.

                          ____________________