[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 48 (Tuesday, April 16, 1996)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E549]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




         A TRIBUTE TO UTAH STATE SENATOR WILFORD ``REX'' BLACK

                                 ______


                            HON. BILL ORTON

                                of utah

                    in the house of representatives

                        Tuesday, April 16, 1996

  Mr. ORTON. Mr. Speaker, I would like to take a moment today to honor 
Utah State Senator Wilford ``Rex'' Black of Salt Lake City, who is 
retiring from the Utah Senate after representing his west Salt Lake 
district for 24 years.
  Senator Black has earned the high respect and admiration of his 
colleagues on both sides of the aisle as he has worked in the Utah 
Senate. An article, published in the Thursday, February 29, 1996, 
edition of the Salt Lake Tribune written by staff writer Tony Semerad, 
does a good job describing Senator Black. I would like to include 
portions of this article in today's Congressional Record:

       Wilford ``Rex'' Black Jr., trusty locomotive driver of Utah 
     Democratic legislators, pulled into the retirement yard 
     Wednesday after a quarter-century of service.
       Part statesman, part grump, part warm-hearted grandfather, 
     Black, 76, ended a 24-year Senate career when the gavel fell. 
     As the longest-serving senator in the chamber, he leaves an 
     indelible mark on state government and the politicians who 
     stay behind.
       The Senate had been a dry-eyed place in 1996. That is, 
     until Monday, when senators began speaking up at a Black 
     farewell ceremony. One by one, leading Republicans and 
     Democrats folded in tears as they bade farewell to the 
     retired railroad engineer-turned-senator, his firm manner 
     and, above all, his integrity.
       ``When Rex tells you something, you can take it to the 
     bank,'' said Sen. John Holmgren, R-Bear River City. ``That's 
     just the way it is.''
       Through six Senate terms, the Rose Park resident has served 
     as majority whip when Democrats dominated Capitol Hill, and 
     held the post of Senate minority leader for a decade. From 
     key committee seats, he has influenced nearly every major 
     piece of legislation since the late 1970s, focusing on public 
     safety, transportation, credit unions and the state's 
     retirement system.
       Senate President Lane Beattie, R-West Bountiful, calls 
     Black and his experience one of strongest arguments against 
     the idea of term limits. ``I can't imagine a worse mistake 
     than limiting the expertise, knowledge and wisdom of a man 
     like this,'' said Beattie.
       Many find it impossible to imagine working in the Utah 
     Legislature without Black's leather-tough, sometime gruff, 
     sometime humorous presence.
       ``He is as much of a part of my mental visualization of 
     what goes on in here as anything or anybody in the chamber,'' 
     said Gov. Mike Leavitt, whose father, Dixie Leavitt, served 
     alongside Black.
       But the years catch up with everyone. ``It's my time to 
     go,'' Black said.
       While still fit after surviving a bout with cancer six 
     years ago, the gray-haired senator shows an icy bluntness and 
     lack of self-consciousness befitting someone who has spent 
     his golden years making state laws.
       He is renowned for reading every bill, even the most mind-
     dulling, and for being a stickler for correctness in 
     procedure.
       He was born in Salt Lake City in 1920 and named for his 
     father, a Hercules shell-house foreman. Seven months after 
     marrying Helen Shirley Frazer in May 1942, Black entered the 
     army, eventually driving supply and prisoner trains across 
     Europe.
       Upon his return, Black resumed working for the Denver & Rio 
     Grande Western Railroad, reaching the ranks of union 
     leadership in the Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen and 
     Enginemen and its successor, the United Transportation Union, 
     until retirement.
       He has eight children, 34 grandchildren and four 
     greatgrandchildren, a clan a fellow senator said `was 
     practically the entire population of Rose Park.' Black also 
     is a devout Mormon.
       Eddie Mayne labored in the Bingham open-pit mine 25 years 
     ago, when he and a delegation of other workers approached 
     Black about running for the Senate. Black's wife was 
     decidedly cold to the idea. `I won't tell you her exact 
     remarks,' he said, `but it was a definite `no.'
       Mayne, now head of the Utah AFL-CIO and a senator himself, 
     said Black has come to symbolize a Democratic brand of 
     respect and compassion for the elderly, disabled, veterans, 
     workers, and the state's downtrodden.
       On their behalf, Black has charged into some of the major 
     political fights of the age.
       The only filibuster of his career came under the late Gov. 
     Scott Matheson. Republicans proposed altering state 
     procurement code in a way Democrats felt jeopardized the 
     Intermountain Power Project, an immense coal-fire power plant 
     near Delta, a boon for blue-collar jobs.
       Black stalled Senate debate for an hour and 45 minutes, 
     enough time to allow Democrat Matheson to pressure the bill's 
     supporters into backing down.
       Finally, they asked me to call it off,' he said with a wry 
     smile.

  Mr. Speaker, I add my congratulations and thanks to Senator Black, on 
behalf of the people of Utah, for his may years of service in the Utah 
Senate. He will be missed but not forgotten.

                          ____________________