[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 6 (Wednesday, January 10, 1996)]
[Senate]
[Pages S121-S122]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                               TOM RACINE

  Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, I would like to note last week a good 
friend of mine, and one of the best friends my home city of Burlington 
has, Tom Racine, died after a courageous battle with cancer.
  Tom was one of those very special people who seemed to be involved in 
everything good with our community. As a motivating force, as the chief 
volunteer, as the hardest worker, he epitomized everything that we see 
in one who makes a community go forward, with the possibility of one 
exception. Tom Racine was the person you never saw in the headlines. 
You hardly heard of him in the press conferences or anything else. He 
just did the work. Others, often times, got the credit but Tom did the 
work.
  I know so many times when I would run into him on Church Street in 
Burlington and I would talk about something that he was intimately 
involved in that was improving our community, I would tell him I read 
about others who were involved, but I knew he was doing so much of the 
work and I had not seen a word about him. He would say, ``Pat, you 
know, that's just the way I am. I just want to get the work done.''
  Tom and his wife, Jeanette, ran Bertha Church's store on Church 
Street for years and years. We would see him there in the store. My 
wife shopped there, as did my mother, my mother-in-law, my daughter and 
others. It was more than just a store you would go into. It was a place 
where everybody knew you by name. Everybody was concerned about you and 
your family.
  But more importantly, Tom and Jeanette Racine were concerned about 
all of us--Vermonters in the truest sense of the word. Our State has 
lost one of its most valuable citizens.
  My wife, Marcelle, and I expressed our sympathy to Jeanette and the 
family. I had hoped to be at his funeral on Monday. As we all know, 
everything was closed down as far as air travel from here, and I was 
unable to go.
  Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to have some editorials and 
articles from the Burlington Free Press be printed in the Record.
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

             [From the Burlington Free Press, Jan. 5, 1996]

                            Called To Serve

       Every community needs at least one civic leader like the 
     later Tom Racine--more interested in building up community 
     than his own reputation, so dogged in pursuit of a good idea 
     Racine once drove a Park-and-Ride van himself when nobody 
     else would.
       Burlington is fortunate to have so many civic-minded 
     leaders like him. None, however, has been quite as self-
     effacing, persevering or nonpolitical. And few have been as 
     determined to strengthen Burlington's retail economy where it 
     counts most, downtown, or where it's been more fun, 
     Centennial Field, home of Burlington's warmly welcomed minor 
     league baseball franchise, the Vermont Expos.
       Racine, who helped found the Church Street Marketplace in 
     the 1980s and bring the Expos here in the 1990s, died 
     Wednesday at age 65. What he brought to Burlington as a 
     person, however, is sure to survive him--his civic work alone 
     an inspiration to those like him to press on, and a nudge to 
     others who, unlike him, might never have felt the need to 
     serve.
       Expos' owner Ray Pecor remembers who first put the bug in 
     his ear to bring minor league baseball back to Burlington--
     and who then bugged him . . . and bugged him . . . and bugged 
     him again until it was done: Tom Racine. Why did that 
     comeback succeed when others had not? Racine, raised during 
     baseball's heyday when players still played for fun, knew to 
     put fans and fun first.
       The Marketplace Commission's Molly Lambert remembers how 
     that Park-and-Ride attempt to make downtown more pedestrian-
     friendly plan failed--but not until Racine had squeezed out 
     the last drop of hope by volunteering to drive himself.
       Mayor Peter Clavelle remembers Racine's habit of checking 
     his politics and his ego at the door--the secret of his 
     success with all manner of politicians.
       Born in Maine, raised and educated in Brandon, he was, 
     nonetheless, a Burling- tonian through and through--first as 
     a graduate of the University of Vermont, later as a partner 
     in downtown retailing and as president of the Downtown 
     Burlington Development Association, then as chairman of the 
     Burlington Public Works Commission. In all his civic work, he 
     took the unpaid way.
       Anyone who thinks Vermonters can afford to lose such old-
     fashioned civic-mindedness isn't paying attention. As more 
     state and federal aid runs dry, sooner or later all of us 
     will be asked to answer similar calls.
       How many of us who do will say a lot about what kind of 
     communities Vermonters build for generations to come.
                                                                    ____

                                  
[[Page S122]]


             [From the Burlington Free Press, Jan. 4, 1996]

                     Baseball, Downtown Leader Dies

                           (By Mike Donoghue)

       Tom Racine, the man who helped build a new downtown for 
     Burlington and minor league baseball clubs for Vermont, died 
     Wednesday in Fletcher Allen Health Care.
       Racine, 65, was general manager for the Vermont Expos for 
     the past two seasons, but may be better known for helping 
     create the Church Street Marketplace.
       Molly Lambert, director of the Church Street Marketplace, 
     noted Racine had done yeoman's work in promoting downtown. 
     She said Racine was president of the Downtown Burlington 
     Development Association when Church Street was turned into an 
     outdoor pedestrian mall in 1981. Two years later the 
     association gave him the Nate Harris award for promoting 
     downtown.
       Racine and his wife, Jeanette, bought Bertha Church, an 
     intimate apparel shop on the Marketplace, in 1974.
       Racine also served on the Burlington Public Works 
     Commission and was its chairman. The city named the 
     educational wing at the new public works building after him.
       He also won sports awards. The New York-Penn League in 1994 
     named him executive of the year for running the minor league 
     team, which is affiliated with the Montreal Expos.
       Racine, who was diagnosed with lung cancer last year, was 
     admitted to the hospital about a week ago for unrelated 
     medical problems, according to his son, Bill Racine. After 
     further complications, he died early Wednesday, his son said. 
     Racine also leaves another son, Robert, and a daughter, Lori.
       Lambert said Racine was quick to give a hand to anybody. 
     She said he was one of the first businessmen to befriend 
     socialist Bernie Sanders when he was elected mayor.
       Jeanette Racine said it was her husband's friendship with 
     Sanders that helped bring minor league baseball back to the 
     state in 1983 in the form of the Vermont Reds of the Eastern 
     League. The Reds eventually left, but the city later got the 
     Mariners and then the Expos.
       Bill Racine said the message that he got from his father is 
     that ``we all have a little something to give to our 
     community.''
                                                                    ____


             [From the Burlington Free Press, Jan. 4, 1996]

                Baseball Community Mourns Loss of Racine

                          (By Patrick Garrity)

       Tom Racine was a baseball man.
       So say those who knew and worked alongside the Vermont 
     Expos general manager, who died Wednesday morning after a 
     battle with cancer. He was 65.
       The man who helped bring baseball back to Burlington should 
     be remembered for his business savvy and his dedication to 
     his work. But most of all, Racine should be remembered for 
     his love for the game.
       ``He loved his work and loved to come to work,'' said Kyle 
     Bostwick, Racine's assistant with the New York-Penn League 
     team. ``More often that not, he was the first person into the 
     office or the ballpark and the last person to leave.''
       Racine was involved as a booster for the Vermont Reds and 
     Mariners organizations in the 1980s, then worked feverishly 
     with Burlington businessman Ray Pecor to bring a NY-Penn team 
     to Vermont. Pecor was not available to comment on Racine's 
     passing, but the general manager's work was recognized in a 
     statement prepared by the team:
       ``Tom Racine was the motivation for bringing baseball back 
     to Burlington. If not for his persistence and encouragement 
     towards the local community, baseball in Burlington may not 
     have happened.''
       ``He always stressed to us to make sure the fans were taken 
     care of, and I think that was because he was one himself,'' 
     Bostwick said. ``Every one of his decisions, be it directly 
     or indirectly, was for the fun of the fan. . . .''
       Racine's success with the Expos' organization clearly was 
     evident, as more than 230,000 fans streamed through 
     Centennial Field's turnstiles the past two years. He was 
     named 1994 NY-Penn Executive of the Year after the team set 
     attendance records in its inaugural season.
       ``He was very well respected by his colleagues in the 
     league,'' said NY-Penn president Bob Julian. ``He was just a 
     real man of the community. He loved Burlington, he loved 
     baseball, and I think he had a ball doing his job. He loved 
     the game.''
       A season-ticket holder since the days of the Vermont Reds, 
     John Douglas of Essex Junction said Racine developed a 
     rapport with fans and sought to make an Expos' game an 
     enjoyable experience.
       ``Once, Tom mentioned to me that baseball is a game that is 
     supposed to be enjoyed,'' Douglas said. ``Consequently, he 
     had that in mind when he was setting things up for Mr. 
     Pecor.''
       ``He was a gentleman who was very knowledgeable about the 
     business of baseball. . . . ``Mr Pecor lost a very, very 
     trusted, highly competent individual, and we're going to miss 
     him.''
                                                                    ____


             [From the Burlington Free Press, Jan. 5, 1996]

                             Thomas Racine

       Thomas Racine, 65, died Wednesday, Jan. 3, 1996, following 
     a brief illness.
       He was born April 24, 1930, in Brunswick, Maine, the son of 
     Dr. Wilfred and Marion Racine. The family moved to Brandon, 
     Vt., in 1943, where he graduated from Brandon High School in 
     1948. Following a year in the Army, Tom received his B.A. 
     from UVM in 1953.
       Tom worked in the pension department at Connecticut General 
     Insurance in Hartford for five years before returning to 
     Burlington. He was employed as a sales representative for 
     Proctor & Gamble and Maidenform until 1973, when he and his 
     wife, Jeanette, purchased Bertha Church, a retail shop they 
     have managed together ever since.
       Always a baseball enthusiast, in 1994 Tom received what for 
     him was an opportunity of a lifetime: a chance to serve as 
     general manager of the newly organized Vermont Expos baseball 
     team of the NY-Penn League. In 1994 he was honored by being 
     voted ``Executive of the Year'' by his peers in the league. 
     He actively pursued his general manager's duties until the 
     time of his death.
       Community issues were a driving force in Tom's life. As co-
     chair of the Downtown Burlington Development Association from 
     1978 to 1982 and 1985 to 1987, he was a catalyst behind 
     creation of the Church Street Marketplace. He was a founder 
     of the Transportation and Parking Council and promoted 
     numerous public parking alternatives. In 1983, he received 
     the Nathan Harris Award in recognition of his efforts to 
     improve the economic vitality of the business district. He 
     served on the Public Works Commission from 1987 to 1993, the 
     last three years as chairman. He served as head of the 
     Downtown Middlebury Association from 1992 to 1993, a position 
     from which he helped spread the secrets of Burlington's 
     economic success.
       While baseball was his passion and downtown Burlington his 
     consummate interest, he was also devoted to youth activities. 
     He coached Little League and umpired high school and college 
     baseball, filmed South Burlington High School football games 
     for 12 years, volunteered for early morning duty with area 
     youth hockey and served on various Boosters clubs. He also 
     loved golf and the art of joke-telling.
       Besides his wife, Jeanette, he is survived by two sons, 
     William of Phippsburg, Maine, and Robert of Rutland; a 
     daughter, Lori MacNeill of Mansfield, Mass.; and eight 
     grandchildren.

                          ____________________