[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 147 (Tuesday, November 29, 1994)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: November 29, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
                  J. RAYMOND KEANY--A BIRTHDAY TRIBUTE

                                 ______


                         HON. JAMES L. OBERSTAR

                              of minnesota

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, November 29, 1994

  Mr. OBERSTAR. Mr. Speaker, a great and patriotic American, Mr. J. 
Raymond Keany, will celebrate his 90th birthday on January 14, 1995. I 
take this opportunity on the last day of the 103d Congress to pay 
tribute to Ray Keany, who has served our country in so many important 
and distinctive ways, and who has also contributed to his faith 
community, his fellow citizens locally, and to the needy.
  Ray Keany served his country with distinction during World War II in 
North Africa as a member of the 391st Army Engineers Regiment. After 
the war, he joined the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation 
Administration, where he worked effectively to deliver the substantial 
and highly successful U.S. efforts to restore stability to post-war 
Europe. Later, Ray represented an international oil company in 
Washington, DC for 23 years.
  Throughout his life, Ray Keany has given tirelessly of himself to 
help those less fortunate than he: As a 40-year member of the 
Washington Host Lions Club, he has helped raise money for the 
Washington Region Eye Bank, as well as raising funds for many other 
charitable organizations. Ray has been particularly instrumental in 
generating financial support for the Children's Inn at the National 
Institutes of Health, and for S.O.M.E., [So Other Might Eat] a 
Northeast Washington soup kitchen serving the area's poor, needy, and 
homeless.
  Ray Keany also serves as a regular Sunday usher at St. Bartholomew's 
Church in Bethesda, MD, which is where I first came to know Ray and to 
observe his active involvement in parish life and service to his fellow 
parishioners. All of us in the St. Bart's faith community are impressed 
and inspired by Ray's sprightly smile, his sincere and enthusiastic 
welcome to one and all, his quick good humor, and his warm, engaging 
personality.
  His contributions to family, church, and country are more numerous 
than the highlights I have listed here, but they all bespeak a man much 
loved and respected by all who have come to know him. I join Ray 
Keany's family and legion of friends in wishing him a happy 90th 
birthday, and many more years of robust, good health.

                          ____________________