[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 28 (Monday, February 13, 1995)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2535-S2536]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                        TRIBUTE TO GLEN WOODARD

  Mr. GRAHAM. Mr. President, Florida and America have lost a big-
hearted 
[[Page S2536]] man who worked hard to make his State and his Nation 
better: Glen Woodard of Jacksonville, FL.
  Mr. Woodard was 77 when he died late last month in Jacksonville after 
a long illness. A vice president at Winn-Dixie Stores, Mr. Woodard was 
``the last of a breed,'' his friend Bill Birchfield said admiringly.
  Mr. President, I submit the following eulogy to Glen Woodard, 
delivered by Robert O. Aders in Jacksonville on January 28, 1995:
  There being no objection, the eulogy was ordered to be printed in the 
Record, as follows:

                         Eulogy to Glen Woodard

   (By Robert O. Aders, President Emeritus, Food Marketing Institute)

       Glen, it is an honor to be invited to eulogize you. It is 
     not the first time that I or others have praised you in 
     public but it is the first time you won't have the last word. 
     I speak on behalf of myself and Tabitha and your other close 
     friends in the industry that you have served so well for so 
     many years--on behalf of your many associates in FMI and 
     other groups in Washington and the State capitols with whom 
     you have worked to improve the food system and the 
     supermarket industry--to improve the quality of government--
     and to improve the relationships between industry and 
     government--in order to better serve the public. We have 
     enjoyed considerable success in all these things and you have 
     truly left your mark. You have made a difference. And today 
     we celebrate your life.
       We all lead our lives on many levels--our home, our church, 
     our country, daily work, recreation. So did Glen Woodard. I 
     would like to say a few words on behalf of those who knew him 
     mostly in his Washington life, that part of his Winn-Dixie 
     career where some of us in this room were his extended 
     family. Glen was born in Washington, D.C.--says so in the 
     Jacksonville newspaper so it must be true. But Glen always 
     denied that. He didn't want to be a Washington insider. 
     Instead Glen told a Supermarket News reporter who asked where 
     he was born:
       ``Born in North Georgia in 1917, RFD 1, Clermont. Go out 
     from Gainesville, turn left at Quillens store, going toward 
     the Wahoo Church, and then past there up toward Dahlonega. We 
     lived there till the Grand Jury met--then moved to Florida.''
       My friendship with Glen goes back a long way. We both 
     joined the supermarket industry 38 years ago. In 1957 Glen 
     joined Winn-Dixie and I joined Kroger--he as a lobbyist, I as 
     a lawyer.
       These were the good old days of smaller government but it 
     was growing and soon Kroger decided to form a government 
     relations department. I was chosen to do it. We were going to 
     lobby and all I knew about that was what you had to go 
     through when you check into a hotel. Then
      I got lucky. The American Retail Federation was holding a 
     regional conference in Springfield, Illinois, and the 
     already-famous Glen Woodard was the featured speaker on 
     ``lobbying.'' Glen spoke on the nitty-gritty of working 
     with government--the day-to-day task of dealing with small 
     problems so they don't get big--the same way we all deal 
     with our family and business problems. He spoke on the 
     day-to-day things that government does, wittingly or 
     unwittingly, that impose a great burden on business. While 
     business is focusing on the big issues we tend to ignore 
     the minor day-to-day interferences that cost us money and 
     slow us down. The title of his speech was repeated at just 
     the right time throughout his presentation, in that 
     patented stentorian voice. It was ``While you are watching 
     out for the eagles you are being pecked to death by the 
     ducks.'' And that was my introduction to the famous Glen 
     Woodard vocabulary and the beginning of a long 
     professional relationship as well as a personal 
     friendship.
       To Glen, a Congressman or a Senator was always addressed as 
     ``my spiritual advisor.'' Glen Woodard's world was not 
     populated by lawyers, accountants and ordinary citizens but 
     by ``skin 'em and cheat 'ems,'' ``shiny britches,'' and 
     ``snuff dippers.'' These people don't merely get excited, 
     they have ``rollin' of the eyes'' and ``jerkin' of the 
     navel.'' Colorful he was. But Glen needed that light-hearted 
     perspective to survive, for Glen was in the middle of what is 
     now called ``that mess in Washington'' from Presidents 
     Eisenhower to Clinton. Working his contacts, talking to 
     representatives and senators, walking his beat--those endless 
     marble corridors of power--doing as he put it ``the work of 
     the Lord.'' And, indeed, his work affected the law of the 
     land.
       And, indeed, that work was made a lot more fun for all of 
     us by Glen's marvelous sense of humour and his wonderful 
     delivery. I remember a meeting a few years ago with a top 
     official in the Treasury Department. We had been stymied for 
     years trying to change a ridiculous IRS regulation because of 
     the stubbornness of one particular bureaucrat. One day Glen 
     broke the logjam as follows: ``Jerry, I had occasion to pay 
     you a high compliment when I was with the Chairman of the 
     Ways and Means Committee last week. I said you were just 
     great with numbers. In fact, you're the biggest 2-timin', 4-
     flushin', SOB I've ever known.'' He got the point and the 
     rule was changed.
       With all his blunt talk and tough wit, he was a kind and 
     generous man. In fact, my wife described him when she
      first met him as courtly and gallant. That was at a luncheon 
     at the Grand Ole Opry years ago. My mother was also 
     present and Glen was with his beloved Miss Ann. My mother 
     was so charmed that for the rest of her life she always 
     asked me ``How is that wonderful gentleman from Winn-Dixie 
     that you introduced me to in Nashville.'' Of course, Tab 
     got to know the total Glen over the ensuing years at the 
     many private dinners the three of us enjoyed when Glen was 
     in Washington and had a free evening.
       Those of us who worked at the Food Marketing Institute 
     during Glen Woodard's career knew the many facets of this 
     fine man. Always with us when we needed him, he was a brother 
     to me and he was Uncle Glen to the young people on the staff.
       Those young people he mentored over the years--young people 
     now mature--carry the principles and values that he lived and 
     taught. Here are some of them:
       Integrity--stick to your principles.
       Strength and toughness--take a position and stand on it.
       Work ethic--It may not be fun at first. If you work hard 
     enough you'll enjoy it.
       Responsibility--Take it. Most people duck it.
       Generosity--Take the blame; share the credit.
       Reliability--Say what you'll do and then do it.
       Fairness--It isn't winning if you cheat.
       And finally, Grace under pressure.
       On behalf of those young people, Glen, I say you brought a 
     great deal of nobility to our day-to-day lives and you made 
     us feel worthwhile.
       A few years ago we tricked Glen into coming to a 
     testimonial dinner on his behalf. He thought it was for 
     someone else. The dinner menu was designed especially to 
     Glen's taste. He always said he was sick of over-cooked beef, 
     rubber chicken and livers wrapped in burnt bacon. So we had a 
     Glen Woodard menu prepared at one of the fanciest private 
     clubs in Washington--The F Street Club. Their kitchen staff 
     will never forget it. We had country ham, redeye gravy and 
     biscuits with collard greens. We had cat fish, hush puppies 
     and cole slaw. All the condiments were served in their 
     original containers--ketchup in the bottle, mustard in the 
     jar, and alongside each table a silver ice bucket we had 
     Glen's cheap rose' wine in a screw-top bottle.
       The FMI staff had prepared a special plaque for this man 
     who already had a wall covered with plaques, but this was 
     different and it expressed how the staff felt about him. It 
     went this way:
       ``FMI to Glen P. Woodard, The Best There Is
       ``For nearly 30 years you have served your company and our 
     industry in the area of public affairs with unparalleled 
     skill and devotion. Currently chairman of the FMI Government 
     Relations Committee, recent Chairman of the FMI Fall 
     Conference, untiring laborer in the vineyards of government 
     on behalf of the American food system, you have accomplished 
     mightily for our industry.
       ``We salute your dedication, your knowledge, your wit and 
     your style. And we treasure your friendship. You are, indeed, 
     The Best There Is. And we love you. Washington, D.C., October 
     22, 1985.''
       And that still goes Glen, old buddy.
       

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