[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.
____________________