[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 93 (Thursday, June 8, 1995)]
[House]
[Pages H5738-H5740]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
TRIBUTE TO DEPARTING PAGES
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the
gentleman from Missouri [Mr. Emerson] is recognized for 5 minutes.
Mr. EMERSON. Mr. Speaker, I rise, as chairman of the Page Board, to
advise my colleagues that today marks the end of the school year for
our pages and those who are here with us today, the pages here with us
today, will be replaced over the weekend by a new group of pages who
will be with us for the summer.
For those who may be unfamiliar, we have school year pages and we
have summer pages, so this is to advise that the pages who are here
today will not be here on Monday, and, second, Mr. Speaker, I rise to
pay tribute to the very wonderful group of young people who have served
throughout this past school year. Not all of them have served the whole
year. Some of them have served only this last semester, but whether it
is for the whole year or the whole semester, they have rendered
distinguished service, and I do not want their parting to be unnoted.
Mr. Speaker, I am inserting at this point in the Record a list of all
the pages who have served here in the spring of 1995.
The list follows:
Departing Pages--Spring 1995
Maria Grace Abuzman, Paulette M. Adams, Seth A.G. Andrew,
Angela S. Armstrong, Kathryn L. Ballintine, Alison J. Bell,
Rebecca A. Belletto, Joanna L. Bowen, Kirk D. Boyle, Tamara
L. Brewer, Nancy M. Brim, Erin C. Carney, Carolyn A. Cassidy,
Erin A. Coker, Todd D. Connor, Richard A. Consul, Keegan B.
Cotton, Mary K. Derr, Courtney M. Duncan, and Tristan A.
Durst.
Joseph F. Eddy, Micheal D. Ellison, Tatum C. Evans, Kristin
M. Francis, Robert C. Gates, Rebecca M. Geraci, Jennifer C.
Gerard, Carolyn J. Gereau, William J. Heaton, Joseph R. Hill,
Erica L. Hogue, Anna M. Holder, Molly K. Hooper, Sarah C.
Jackson, Francie J. Julien, Kathleen A. Kelly, Karly A.
Kevane, Debrorah L. Kinirons, Lisa N. Konitzer, and Ross C.
Maradian.
Rene Marcano, Katharine J. Mills, Abigail M. Moon, Kristina
M. Motulewicz, Joel T. Niedfeldt, John S. Parker, Jeffrey A.
Pojanowski, Kathleen E. Quinlan, Alison J. Rabb, Lindsay E.
Rosenfeld, Marianne E. Royster, Vanessa M. Ruggles, Nick T.
Ryan, Timothy P. Scharf, Allison M. Sessions, Serena M.
Sherrell, Tatiana I. Sohrakoff, Jennifer T. Sontag, Kelle L.
Stanforth, Joshua K. Stello, Todd J. Stonewater, Xaviera M.
Vanegas, Brooke E. Wagner, Matthew R. Williams, and Calvin W.
Winchester.
Mr. Speaker, it may interest my colleagues, if you do not know it,
although I am very proud to talk about this, and it may interest the
pages if they do not know it, that I am the only sitting Republican in
the House of Representatives who was actually here the last time we
Republicans controlled the House.
{time} 1630
I was not a Member at that time. It was as a page that I served here
in the 83d and the 84th Congresses, and I want to say also that I have
always--I have long regarded, since I underwent the experience, that
having been a page was probably the finest, most objective, educational
experience of my life. I've said many, many times that you learn as a
page by doing and observing and participating and that is just an
awfully lot different than reading about it in the textbooks.
So I hope to the pages--let me say I hope that this experience has
been as meaningful to you as it was for me, and I wish all of you, and
I know I do this on behalf of the entire House, I wish all of you well
in your life's endeavors.
Some of you will be going off to college, others to the military,
perhaps others to other things. But I hope this experience has served
you well, will be a constant point of favorable reflection throughout
your life and that you will have much success and happiness and good
health in all of your undertakings.
So from me on behalf of the House to all of our department pages,
``God bless you and Godspeed.''
Let me at this time yield to the distinguished gentleman from
California [Mr. Dreier].
Mr. DREIER. I thank my very good friend, the former page from Cape
Girardeau, MO, for yielding to me, and I would like to first extend to
him hearty congratulations for his stellar service. He served in the
last Republican Congress, and we certainly hope that these pages on the
Republican side who have blazed a trail will not follow the precedent
that my friend from Cape Girardeau established in seeing the
[[Page H5739]] other party control the place for 40 uninterrupted
years.
I believe that, as we look at the fine work that these pages have
done here for the past several months, it clearly is an example that
should be set for many young people throughout the rest of the country
and the world. We so often see the negative side of young people. It
makes the headlines and the news, and very rarely is the attention
focused on those who are providing stellar service as these pages have,
and I would simply like to join with my colleagues here, and I know
that every one of our colleagues would want to extend congratulations
to them.
I thank you again, my friend, for allowing me to participate, and I
hope very much that these young people have great futures ahead of
them.
Mr. EMERSON. I thank the gentleman for his contribution.
The gentleman from North Carolina.
Mr. COBLE. I thank the gentleman from Missouri [Mr. Emerson] for
having taken this special order to honor our pages. I thank the
gentleman from California [Mr. Dreier] for his very appropriate
remarks.
As the gentleman from Missouri well knows, this is traditionally a
bittersweet time, happy on the one hand for the pages to return to
their respective homes, some sadness on the other for having to leave
this place that has been their home for the past year.
In closing I say to the gentleman from Missouri, and I say to the
Speaker, we will forever be in the memories of these pages. They
conversely will forever be in our memories. They have indeed done well
here, and, as they depart, we wish them Godspeed and smooth seas, and
again I thank the gentleman from Missouri.
Mr. EMERSON. I thank the gentleman from North Carolina.
I am very pleased to yield to the distinguished gentleman from
California [Mr. Cunningham].
Mr. CUNNINGHAM. I thank the gentleman from Missouri for offering this
special order.
As my colleagues know, quite often not only the pages but the staff
members on both sides of the aisle, the Republicans and the Democrats;
I see these young ladies and young men that supervise these pages. I
see them yell, ``Snap to,'' when the pages arrive, and I see all of
them cry when they leave because it is like a big family here, and
quite often not enough of us pay attention to what I call our critters
that run about. You will see them here at 5:30 in the morning going to
school, you will see them here at midnight, and I challenge any one of
our Members to ever see a page that did not look at them and smile and
say ``hi,'' and maybe sometimes all of us can take a note from that.
But I want to thank you for the special order and say, job well done,
kids, or critters, and thank you very much.
Mr. EMERSON. I thank the gentleman from California.
I am glad to yield to the gentleman from California [Mr. Doolittle].
Mr. DOOLITTLE. I thank the gentleman for yielding. I will just be
very brief.
I say to the outstanding young people who are the pages, we thank you
for your service. It seems that the good times always go very, very
quickly, but you will be missed and remembered, and do not lose track.
Come back, stay in touch, and God bless you. Thank you very much.
Mr. EMERSON. I am delighted to yield to the gentleman from California
[Mr. Dornan].
Mr. DORNAN. I thank my dear colleague from the great ``Show Me
State'' of Missouri, and I am happy to see one of the best clerks in
history--We are watching the new one very closely--Donnald K. Anderson
on the floor here, who has also been one of the masters in inspiring
these young pages.
I want to tell you pages something about my last page, where he is
today. I have got a page come in in the new class. Not every
Congressman can get a page every class, so it has been 5 years since I
had a page. He was a son of a good friend of mine, Andy Messing's son
Eric. He spent his page time here. He set a record; I bet some of you
have passed it: One of the swiftest couriers, male or female, I have
ever seen, and he went from here to Annapolis, and he graduated from
Annapolis a few months ago, went to a brief school, and he arrived in
the Mediterranean with our beautiful 6th Fleet just a few days ago. I
do not know where Eric Messing is. Maybe he is on the Kearsarge, and
what a day it is to be on the Kearsarge. Today, your day of graduation,
a true story book place, better than any Hollywood movie, and an ex-
page may be an eyewitness to this, on a U.S. carrier, a Navy-Marine
Corps carrier named after one of our great battles. This morning, June
8, two big giant H-53C Stallion helicopters launched U.S. Marines as
marines saved Duke Cunningham out to rescue an Air Force F-16 pilot,
two Huey Cobra gunships flying escort and two U.S. Marine Corps ADAD
vertical takeoff carrier jets flying cover, and they find our Air Force
captain, Scott O'Grady. He comes running out of the woods, pistol in
hand, jumps on one of the Marine choppers, rescue guys helping him on
board, and a rocket-propelled grenade is fired at these massive
helicopters as they lift off in victory. God plays a role at this
point. Mere miss, and they are all back on the Kearsarge now, toasting
one another.
Dr. O'Grady and Mrs. O'Grady, right here, a physician in Alexandria,
brother Paul, sister Stacey, all happy.
What a country you young people have just served, what a great
blessed country, the United States of America, and you have a
Government experience in your youth second to none. Run for office,
some of you. Come back here like several of our pages, like this
gentleman, who are serving their country. Go out and become doctors and
fighter pilots and young female physicists. Do anything you want, you
women. But some of you, please run for office even if you lose. Try and
come back here so when I come in here in a wheelchair I can visit with
you about June 1995. Godspeed and, my God, bless you in your every
endeavor, and may all of your dreams come true. Well done.
Mr. EMERSON. I thank the gentleman from California [Mr. Dornan] for
his contribution.
Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Texas [Mr. Gonzalez]. I am
delighted to yield to the gentleman.
Mr. GONZALEZ. Thank you very much because I have not failed on
previous occasions of this nature. From my inception of a career here,
the question of pages has always been foremost, and preeminently so. I
believe I was the first to bring about the occasion of dipping into a
segment of our population back in the Soutwest that had never had a
page proceed from its midst, and very proud to say that it was the
beginning for him in which the stimulus he received, and being that he
had never been out of the city of San Antonio up to that point, enabled
him to chart a course that has resulted in his carving a niche in our
San Antonio society and his finding his place on a professional level.
So I want to add my voice to the gentleman's in complimenting these
young ladies and young men who have taken time. Now, it does take
dedication, and it is a selected choice that each one of the
individuals does. When you consider that not every youth is interested,
we then have more reason to be grateful to them for their interest in
the most intimate aspect of the proceedings of this great lawmaking
body, and I again want to thank the gentleman for his thoughtfulness.
Mr. EMERSON. I thank the gentleman for his contribution.
I think we should also note the gentleman from California [Mr.
Dornan] alluded to it, that in the Chamber with us at this time is the
distinguished former Clerk of the House, Mr. Donnald K. Anderson, who
has had a long-time interest in the page program, he himself having
been a page many years ago.
Mr. Anderson, unfortunately, does not have the privileges of the
floor and cannot speak, but he has prepared some remarks that he would
have delivered if he could have said them.
So, for the Record, I include at this point a statement by Mr.
Anderson:
Statement of Donnald K. Anderson, Former Clerk of the House
I am grateful, indeed, to Congressman Emerson for the
opportunity to share my thoughts on the occasion of the
departure of the House Page Class of 1994-5.
My roots in the Page Program are deep, beginning with my
own appointment as a page in the Eighty-sixth Congress and
graduation in the Class of 1960. For eighteen years as the
Manager of the Democratic cloakroom, I was a page supervisor
and during my eight years as the Clerk of the House was a
member of [[Page H5740]] the Page Board on which I continue
to serve as Member Emeritus.
The Class of 1995 is a splendid and remarkable group of
young Americans. They have unfailingly distinguished
themselves in every area of their page experience. Successful
and useful lives are easily predictable. I am proud to have
been a page and proud to be a friend of the Class of 1995.
God bless you and stay in touch.
Now, with that, Mr. Speaker, that concludes my remarks. Once again I
want to thank the pages for their service and extend every good wish to
them for their future success and for their careers.
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