[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 18 (Monday, January 30, 1995)]
[Senate]
[Page S1734]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
THE LATE LORNA SIMPSON
Mr. THURMOND. Mr. President, the Senate is a place of great
camaraderie and congeniality, and over the past four decades, I have
been fortunate to have made a number of very good friends here.
Regrettably, I rise today to memorialize one of them, Mrs. Lorna
Simpson.
Lorna is known to all of us as the mother of our colleague, Senator
Al Simpson, the dedicated and gregarious senior Senator from Wyoming.
While most Members probably had the opportunity to meet this kind and
warm woman, few are fortunate to have known her as well as I.
I first came to know Lorna in 1962 when her husband was elected to
the U.S. Senate and he moved into an office near mine. The Simpsons
quickly became my close friends and I very much enjoyed spending time
with Al and Lorna.
While Lorna was a consummate entertainer, she was a woman who was
civically active and took a strong role in supporting her husband's
business enterprises. Every community in which the Simpsons lived
benefited from the efforts of Lorna as she contributed her time and
efforts to numerous causes including the Red Cross and programs that
restored various historic sites. During World War II, Lorna contributed
to the war effort by chairing Cody Wyoming's black and scrap metal
committees and even served as the acting editor of the local paper.
Among her many other activities in the subsequent years, she assisted
her husband in negotiations with the Israeli Government concerning gas
and oil exploration in that country, and later she served as the
representative of the women of the United States to the Organization of
American States.
Mr. President, I know everyone will agree with me that Lorna Simpson
was a unique woman and a lady in every respect. She possessed high
ideals, a lovely character, a friendly personality and all the good
qualities that signify the perfect lady. She was a woman who was
devoted to her husband and family and she added much to the lives of
those whom she touched. Senator Al Simpson and his lovely wife Ann have
my deepest sympathies and they, along with Al's brother Peter and the
entire Simpson family, are in my thoughts and prayers.
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