[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 200 (Friday, December 15, 1995)]
[Senate]
[Page S18683]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        DR. RICHARD C. HALVERSON

  Mr. BYRD. Mr. President, the founder of Methodism, John Wesley, 
declared, ``The world is my parish.'' In a like fashion, Dr. Richard 
Halverson might have declared that the Senate side of the United States 
Capitol, the city of Washington, DC, and the United States of America 
were his parish.
  No one who ever passed Dr. Halverson in the hallways or in the 
streets of this Federal community had any reason to doubt that Dr. 
Richard Halverson was a man in whom the Light of God's Love shone 
brightly. From the men and women who clean our offices at night to the 
men and women who prepare the meals in our dining rooms and cafeterias, 
to the men and women who deliver the mail throughout the office 
complexes, to the men and women who police the streets of Capitol Hill, 
to the men and women who serve in the offices of Senators and on the 
elevators and in committee staffs to the men and women who sit on the 
Floor of the United States Senate as elected officials of the fifty 
sovereign States, no one was beyond Dr. Halverson's love, his ministry, 
and his care. If one followed Dr. Halverson throughout his daily 
routine, one would not find a man more possessed by, as well as 
animated by, the Capitol Spirit of the Living God. I have met few men 
in any ordained order of the clergy or any denomination, who fit the 
phrase ``Men of God'' so well as did Dr. Halverson.
  Dr. Richard Halverson was a man of plain speech and honest demeanor. 
His eloquence was often in his simplicity. No problem brought to him by 
one of us or by anyone on Capitol Hill was too small for his attention 
or too menial to call forth from him a prayer or a blessing. Having 
come from a major Washington parish--The Fourth Presbyterian Church on 
River Road--a church numbering among its members thousands--Dr. 
Halverson, on assuming the chaplaincy of the U.S. Senate, shouldered 
his duties without missing a beat. During his years of service among 
us, he was in much demand nationwide to share his spiritual maturity 
and the depth of his insights with thousands upon thousands of people 
in conferences across our country. In spite of the demand upon his 
time, however, Dr. Richard Halverson never neglected his primary duty 
here in the United States Senate. Working as one man among ordinary men 
and women--the men and women elected to the high position of United 
States Senator, Dr. Halverson seemed to grasp instinctively our needs 
as human beings first and our needs as Senators second. In all of the 
years of his service here, Dr. Halverson sowed seeds of faith, and 
kindness, and love that will continue to bear fruit in all of our 
lives, and in the life of this institution long after all of us have 
departed its halls.
  I am particularly grateful to Dr. Halverson for the pastoral care 
that he lent to me personally during the ordeal of the loss of my 
beloved grandson in a truck accident. And I remember with thankfulness 
his ministry to my wife during her seasons of illness and debility. And 
I shall never forget the witness that Dr. Halverson shared with me of 
his own faith as he and I opened our hearts to one another and searched 
the deeper things of life in sometimes casual conversations or in 
moments of profound insight. If ever there were a model of the 
``Priesthood of all Believers,'' Dr. Halverson was a priest of that 
order of ``Melchisedec'' spoken of in the Holy Scriptures. Dr. 
Halverson had the enviable ability to share his faith in God as one 
might recommend to another his Best Friend. For Richard Halverson, God 
was no abstraction, but the first reality of waking in the morning, 
traveling forth into the world by day and returning home at night to 
his slumber.

     I saw the sun sink in the golden west;
     No angry cloud obscured its latest ray.
     Around the couch on which it sank to rest
     Shone all the splendor of a summer day.
     And long, though lost to view, that radiant light,
     Reflected from the sky, delayed the night.

     Thus, when a good man's life comes to a close,
     No doubts arise to cloud his soul with gloom,
     But faith triumphant on each feature glows,
     And benedictions fill the sacred room.
     And long do men his virtues wide proclaim,
     While generations rise to bless his name.

  I have no doubt that Dr. Halverson has indeed now gone to his reward 
in that Eternity for which each of us yearns in his heart of hearts. 
Death can be no victor over the life of a man like Richard Halverson--a 
man whose daily walk and whose wisdom were rooted in the Eternal Word 
of God. Indeed, as Jesus said, when he saw Nathanael coming to him, we 
might also say of Dr. Richard Halverson, ``Behold an Israelite in whom 
there is no guile.''
  My wife and I extend our deep deepest sympathies to Mrs. Halverson 
and to the family of Dr. Halverson. He was not slick; he was not even 
particularly polished, perhaps, but neither was the Jesus Christ whom 
he served. This was not just a vocation, it was an avocation, and what 
you saw was what you got.
  As I said to his son after Dr. Halverson's passing, I have no doubt--
and I had no doubt that Dr. Halverson knew--of his son's grief. I felt 
that way when my own foster father passed from this earthly life. I 
felt that way when my grandson was taken at the age of 17. I felt that 
his spirit still lived, and that he knew of my grief.
  Dr. Halverson knows today of his family's grief. They can take solace 
in the promise that he still lives, and that they can one day be 
reunited with him.

                    rose still grows beyond the wall

     Near a shady wall a rose once grew,
       Budded and blossomed in God's free light,
     Watered and fed by morning dew,
       Shedding its sweetness day and night.

     As it grew and blossomed fair and tall,
       Slowly rising to loftier height,
     It came to a crevice in the wall,
       Through which there shone a beam of light.

     Onward it crept with added strength,
       With never a thought of fear or pride.
     It followed the light through the crevice's length
       And unfolded itself on the other side.

     The light, the dew, the broadening view
       Were found the same as they were before;
     And it lost itself in beauties new,
       Spreading its fragrance more and more.

     Shall claim of death cause us to grieve,
       and Make our courage faint or fall?
     Nay! Let us faith and hope receive:
       The rose still grows beyond the wall.

     Scattering fragrance far and wide,
       Just as it did in days of yore,
     Just as it did on the other side,
       Just as it will forevermore.

  Mr. President, I yield the floor.
  Mr. THOMAS addressed the Chair.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Wyoming is recognized.

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