[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 49 (Wednesday, April 17, 1996)]
[House]
[Pages H3550-H3553]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    A TRIBUTE TO RUSH LIMBAUGH, SR.

  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 today to pay tribute to a 
distinguished and gentle man from southeast Missouri, a man who 
embodied what is right and good about this great Nation,

[[Page H3551]]

Rush Hudson Limbaugh, Sr., a gentle man who earned the affectionate 
disinction, patriarch of southeast Missouri.
  Mr. Limbaugh passed away last week at the honorable age of 104 in his 
Cape Girardeau home of Sylvan Lane. He had a long and valuable life. 
His passing will inevitably leave a tremendous void. He was a dear 
friend and mentor of mine, and of countless others, from all walks of 
life.
  What made Mr. Limbaugh such a special person was his uniquely simple 
character. Those who had the privilege to come in contact with him 
certainly were amazed at his breadth of knowledge and command of 
oratory skills. No question, Rush Hudson Limbaugh Sr. was a living 
testament to the american dream. But he was without pretense, truly a 
humble man, a devout Republican and a very committed democrat.
  Born in rural Bollinger County, about 90 miles southwest of St. 
Louis, Mr. Limbaugh was the product of a one-room primary school. As 
with everything he approached in life, he excelled in his education. In 
fact, through diligence, organization, and keen focus, he put himself 
through high school, paying most of his expenses by doing carpenter 
work and farm labor. Following high school, he went to college at the 
University of Missouri at Columbia. His work on the university farm and 
various odd jobs, such as firing furnaces, carpentry, waiting tables, 
caring for animals, and assisting a Methodist minister all helped to 
foot the bill for his continuing education.
  He always stressed that the more you can learn, the better off you 
would be. His list of personal accomplishments help to prove that he 
was indeed a man who lived by his own words and convictions. He 
prepared himself well, worked hard, and made his family, community, and 
country proud.
  Among his most notable achievements, Mr. Limbaugh left this world 
last week as the oldest practicing attorney in the United States. 
That's right, at 104 years of age, Rush Hudson Limbaugh Sr. still went 
into the office at least twice a week to the Limbaugh, Russell, Payne 
and Howard law firm that he founded 50 years ago in Cape Girardeau. To 
help put his 80 years of service in perspective, he started practicing 
law in 1916 at the age of 24 when Woodrow Wilson was President.
  Not only was Mr. Limbaugh a scholar in the law, but also in history, 
in political theory and Judeo-Christian tradition. He and I shared a 
pleasure of never-endingly researching Abraham Lincoln. When we would 
get together, inevitably a discussion about Lincoln would come up, and 
we both looked forward to swapping new stories or novel tales about our 
Nation's 16th President.
  I would be remiss if I didn't mention Mr. Limbaugh's many 
contributions to our community and our Nation. He was a servant of the 
Methodist church, the Boy Scouts, and the Salvation Army among others. 
In 1958, one of his personal highlights came when the U.S. State 
Department invited him to lecture in a newly liberated India before 
lawyers, judges, and university students about constitutional 
government and the American judicial system. They were so impressed 
with his commentary and remarks that the All India Law Teachers 
Association subsequently honored him.
  We will all dearly miss Mr. Limbaugh, the patriarch of the Limbaugh 
family, of Cape Girardeau and of southeast Missouri. Many folks know 
about his now famous national radio talk show grandson, Rush Limbaugh 
III. ``Pop,'' as his family would call him, also is responsible for the 
great legal legacy of Limbaugh lawyers whom include son, a U.S. 
District Judge, a grandson, Justice of the Missouri Supreme Court, 
another grandson, a prominent attorney in southeast Missouri and 
throughout the Midwest, a son and grandchildren who are educators.
  Throughout his extraordinary life, he was always true to his roots--
hard working, composed, dedicated, and most of all humble. His life and 
character epitomize that America is the land of opportunity for those 
who have the heart and the will to make the most of it.
  Rush Hudson Limbaugh Sr. was indeed a legend in his time.

                    [From the Southeast Missourian]

                      400 Attend Limbaugh Funeral

                           (By Chuck Miller)

       The patriarch of the Limbaugh family was laid to rest 
     Thursday afternoon next to his bride, who died almost 19 
     years before him.
       For the most part, the funeral service for Rush Hudson 
     Limbaugh Sr. was of typical United Methodist fanfare, 
     probably the way the Limbaugh would have wanted it. The most 
     extraordinary aspects of the service were the cross-section 
     of people that paid their last respects and the ``van loads'' 
     of flowers sent in remembrance of a man whose legal career 
     spanned more years than most people's lives.
       Limbaugh, 104, died Monday, April 8, 1996, at his home on 
     Sylvan Lane. He practiced law for more than 80 years.
       State officials, judges, community leaders and others--
     about 400 people in all--gathered at Centenary United 
     Methodist Church for the service. The minister, the Rev. Dr. 
     Neil Stein, delivered the eulogy.
       Besides the eulogy, a violinist began the service, a 
     soloist sang a Christian hymn and a trumpeter performed 
     ``Amazing Grace.'' It was a relatively simple service for a 
     man who gained international fame as a lawyer and who lived 
     through the Space Age and witnessed this country fight six 
     wars. But Limbaugh enjoyed living a simple life in Cape 
     Girardeau.
       In addition to family members such as a U.S. district judge 
     and nationally known radio and TV talkshow host, Secretary of 
     State Bekki Cook, a former associate in the law firm Limbaugh 
     founded, and State Auditor Margaret Kelly attended the 
     ceremony.
       Three justices from the Missouri Supreme Court also 
     attended the service. One of the justices, Stephen N. 
     Limbaugh Jr., was bidding farewell to his grandfather. Chief 
     Justice John Holstein and Justice William Price also paid 
     their respects.
       A host of other officials from state representatives and 
     senators to city leaders and lawyers also attended.
       ``No one can really tell the story of the life of Rush 
     Hudson Limbaugh,'' Stein said. ``He joined this church 
     in 1911, before most of us came into being.''
       The minister said Limbaugh was a man who made everything--
     family, clients and God--take center stage in his life. ``A 
     grandson told me that Pop--that's what everyone called him--
     made each of them feel they were the most important one in 
     his life,'' he said.
       ``Even though he is gone physically,'' Stein said, ``it 
     makes no sense to stop living up to his standard.''
       Limbaugh lived a long and quality life, Stein said, because 
     of his ability to adapt to new things. ``Most people resist 
     change, but Rush never aged,'' he said.
       The minister quoted a line from a book Limbaugh wrote but 
     never published about his life with his wife, Bee. ``On the 
     night of her death, he wrote, `For the first time in 63 years 
     I was utterly alone except for the memories of the greatest 
     soul I had ever known,' '' said Stein.
       A long funeral procession to Lorimier Cemetery followed the 
     service.
                                                                    ____


                    [From the Southeast Missourian]

                  Rush H. Limbaugh Dies at Age of 104

                            (By Jay Eastick)

       In 1902, on a small farm along the Little Muddy Creek in 
     Bollinger County, a passion for the law first stirred in a 
     10-year-old boy.
       A Daniel Webster oration the boy memorized had inspired him 
     to become a lawyer. Fourteen years later, he set out on a 
     legal career that spanned eight decades.
       On Monday, the lifetime love affair between the man and the 
     law ended.
       Rush Hudson Limbaugh, one of Cape Girardeau's favorite sons 
     and the nation's oldest practicing lawyer, died Monday 
     afternoon at his home at 635 Sylvan Lane. He was 104.
       Funeral arrangements are pending at Ford and Sons Mt. 
     Auburn Chapel in Cape Girardeau.
       Limbaugh's interest in law never waned and even in recent 
     months, he headed into work about twice a week at the 
     Limbaugh, Russell, Payne and Howard law firm that he founded 
     50 years ago in Cape Girardeau.
       His love of the law now is a family legacy.
       His son Rush H. Limbaugh Jr., who died in 1990, practiced 
     law with him, along with another son, Stephen N. Limbaugh, 
     who now is a federal judge in St. Louis.
       Stephen practiced law with his father for 30 years before 
     President Ronald Reagan appointed him to the federal bench.
       ``I remember him most of all as a tremendous inspiration as 
     a lawyer and a teacher, not only from a professional point of 
     view, but in our relationship as well,'' Stephen said Monday.
       He always has been most impressed with his father's even 
     temperament. Although he could be a ``very fiery advocate'' 
     for his clients, the elder Limbaugh was able always to 
     maintain his composure and craft solutions to legal 
     quandaries, Stephen said.
       Despite his own stellar legal career, Stephen said he 
     ``couldn't possibly ever measure up'' to his father's 
     stature.
       The Limbaugh legal legacy extends to a third generation.
       Four of his grandsons followed in his footsteps and pursued 
     legal careers. John and Dan, sons of Rush's son, Manley, both 
     are lawyers. Stephen's son, Stephen Jr., now is a Missouri 
     Supreme Court judge, and Rush Jr.'s son, David, practices law 
     at the firm his grandfather started.

[[Page H3552]]

       David said his grandfather wouldn't want his family 
     boasting about him. ``But he was an extraordinary man, 
     exemplary in every way, yet very humble,'' he said.
       ``He was a devoted Christian, a lawyer's lawyer, a 
     community servant and a gentle and kind man whose family was 
     the very center of his life.
       David said the loss of his grandfather was ``made easier 
     with the knowledge that he led a rich and fulfilling life and 
     that he is now residing in a happier, more peaceful place.''
       Rush Limbaugh's oratorical skills were passed down to his 
     most famous progeny, Rush H. Limbaugh III, who hosts the 
     nation's most-listened to radio talk show as well as a 
     syndicated half-hour television show. He also is the author 
     of two best-selling books.
       By any measure, Rush Limbaugh's was a full life. His vita 
     runs to several pages and reflects a commitment to excellence 
     and the highest code of legal ethics.
       He was known by his peers as a superb lawyer. More than 
     that, he is remembered by those who knew him as an uncommon 
     man, someone who combined public distinction with private 
     character.
       And so colleagues, when asked to name Limbaugh's 
     achievements, are as likely to point to his work as a Sunday 
     school teacher or scout leader as they are to his many career 
     distinctions.
       A former president of the Missouri Bar, charter member of 
     the Missouri Bar Foundation and member of the American Bar 
     Foundation, among other professional organizations, Limbaugh 
     also was a member of the Cape Girardeau Board of Education, 
     the Salvation Army Advisory Board and was chairman of the 
     Cape Girardeau County Republican Committee.
       He had been honored by the American Security Council, the 
     All India Law Teachers Association, and the University of 
     Missouri. He also was named ``Mr. Cape Girardeau'' by the 
     Golden Eagles Marching Band of Southeast Missouri State 
     University, and was an Honorary Citizen of ``Father 
     Flanagan's Boy's Town.
       In 1985, then Missouri Gov. John Ashcroft declared May 17 
     ``Rush H. Limbaugh Day'' in the state in honor of the Cape 
     Girardeau laywer.
       At a dinner that night, President Reagan remarked in a 
     letter that Limbaugh's contributions ``read like a virtual 
     who's who of accomplishment.'' U.S. Supreme Court Justice 
     Lewis Powell called Limbaugh a ``great credit of the legal 
     profession.''
       Ashcroft, now a U.S. Senator from Missouri, said Monday 
     that Limbaugh ``set an example'' for all who knew him.
       ``Rush Limbaugh exemplified the character, commitment and 
     vision that has led this great state from the 1900s through 
     the Great Depression, up until today,'' Ashcroft said. ``He 
     understood the promise of America because he embodied it.''
       One of the highlights of his career came in 1958, when the 
     U.S. State Department invited Limbaugh to lecture in a newly 
     liberated India before lawyers, judges and university 
     students on the subject of constitutional government and the 
     American judicial system.
       The product of a one-room primary school in rural Bollinger 
     County, Limbaugh attended Millersville High School before 
     transferring to the Normal School in Cape Girardeau, where he 
     paid most of his expenses doing carpenter work and farm 
     labor.
       At Normal School, he was elected to the Benton Literary 
     Society, for which he won numerous oration and debating 
     awards. In 1912, he was awarded the gold medal for 
     participation in the Interstate Normal Oratorical Contest at 
     Emporia, Kan.
       He paid his way through college at the University of 
     Missouri at Columbia by working on the university farm and 
     various odd jobs--firing furnaces, carpenter work, waiting 
     tables, caring for animals and assisting a Methodist 
     minister.
       At college, his oratory skills won him more awards and 
     helped to hone the skills he later would employ in the 
     courtroom.
       He argued more than 60 cases before the Missouri Supreme 
     Court and many prominent civil cases, Limbaugh was a 
     specialist in probate law and helped draft the 1955 Probate 
     Code of Missouri.
       Limbaugh also tried cases before the Interstate Commerce 
     Commission, the U.S. Labor Board, the Internal Revenue 
     Appellate Division and trial and appellate agencies of the 
     U.S. Coast Guard.
                                                                    ____


             [From the Southeast Missourian, April 9, 1996]

               Colleagues Call Limbaugh a Lawyer's Lawyer

                           (By Chuck Miller)

       Friends and colleagues of Rush Hudson Limbaugh, 104, said 
     within hours of his death that other people should measure 
     their personal and professional lives by the standard he 
     lived by.
       A Cape Girardeau Icon who also achieved international fame 
     as a lawyer touting American jurisprudence abroad, Limbaugh 
     died Monday afternoon.
       ``It's a sad day for Cape Girardeau,'' said U.S. Rep. Bill 
     Emerson, ``Mr. Limbaugh had a long and valuable life. His 
     passing will inevitably leave a tremendous void. He was a 
     dear friend and mentor of mine.''
       Emerson said he and Limbaugh shared a hobby of researching 
     Abraham Lincoln. When the two men would meet, they would swap 
     a new story about America's 16th president. ``That was one 
     thing we looked forward to,'' he said.
       Emerson said one of his fondest memories always will be the 
     dedication of a new school in Winona. The federal government 
     funded half of the project, he said, and a Winona banker, 
     represented by Limbaugh at age 96, funded the other half of 
     the project.
       ``So it was Rush Limbaugh and Bill Emerson on the back of a 
     flatbed truck for the dedication,'' he said. ``And he made 
     the most remarkable, beautiful statement: He was quoting off 
     the top of his head about the importance of a public 
     education. He just wove it together so beautifully.
       ``He was a legend in his time.''
       Cape Girardeau Mayor Al Spalding III said Limbaugh ``made'' 
     Cape Girardeau in many ways.
       ``He put us on the map in a lot of respects,'' he said. 
     ``We hate to see his passing. He paid his dues and helped a 
     lot of young attorneys over the years, which we're all 
     grateful for.''
       A man devoted to his wife, community and his career was how 
     John Blue, the former managing editor of the Southeast 
     Missourian, described Limbaugh.
       ``He was president of the Rotary when I joined in 1949,'' 
     Blue said. ``He was one of our better presidents. He also was 
     a top lawyer and a great orator. There was no hemming or 
     hawing with him; it was just forthright speech.''
       Blue credited Cape Girardeau's growth in the 1920s and 
     1930s to Limbaugh the community leader. ``We experienced 
     phenomenal growth then, and he was responsible for that,'' he 
     said.
       Al Lowes, a Cape Girardeau attorney, landed Limbaugh, a 
     past president of the Missouri Bar as a lawyer's lawyer.
       ``He was a top-notch, all-around lawyer,'' he said. ``He 
     was extremely hardworking and ethical. He was really the 
     epitome of what a lawyer ought to be.''
       Lowes said other aspiring lawyers should look to Limbaugh 
     and his career when entering the profession. ``You just 
     couldn't have asked for a finer man to have been a lawyer,'' 
     he said.
       Another attorney, former state Sen. Al Spradling Jr., 
     agreed: ``He has to be one of the most outstanding lawyers 
     that Cape Girardeau ever had. He had more honors bestowed 
     upon him than any other lawyer in Southeast Missouri. He was 
     honored by the Missouri Bar more than any attorney in 
     Southeast Missouri.''
       Spradling said before he ever went to law school he was a 
     gopher for the only meeting of the Missouri Bar held in Cape 
     Girardeau.
       ``He was responsible for the Missouri Bar having a meeting 
     in Cape Girardeau because he was president,'' he said. ``It 
     was the first and the last time the Missouri Bar has had a 
     meeting here.''
       In addition to achieving the top spot in the Missouri Bar, 
     Limbaugh also was a special envoy to India, touting American 
     jurisprudence to that nation during President Dwight 
     Eisenhower's administration.
       But even though his legal career took him around the world, 
     he continued to reside in Cape Girardeau where his law 
     practice began in 1916.
       Don Thomasson, another Cape Girardeau attorney, said he met 
     Limbaugh in 1953 while serving as prosecutor in Marble Hill.
       ``I saw him sitting in Ward's Cafe,'' he said. ``I thought 
     he was God. He was such a gentleman and a great attorney.''
       Thomasson said he remembered speaking at a celebration a 
     decade ago honoring Limbaugh for 75 years of practicing law.
       ``A few of us said some good words about Mr. Rush,'' he 
     said, ``and then he spoke. He sounded far more intelligent 
     than any of us.''
       Morley Swingle, the Cape Girardeau County prosecutor, asked 
     Limbaugh for help while compiling photographs and 
     biographical sketches of every prosecutor who served in Cape 
     Girardeau County, a position created in 1886.
       ``Rush Limbaugh personally knew every single prosecuting 
     attorney,'' he said.
       Swingle said he didn't have a picture for one of the 
     prosecutors, Robert Whitelaw, who served in the late 1890s. 
     But he did have a picture of a group of unknown county 
     officials taken about the same time as Whitelaw was 
     prosecutor.
       ``I took the photograph to Mr. Limbaugh,'' he said. ``He 
     got his magnifying glass out, looked at the picture and said, 
     `No, he's not in this batch.''
       Swingle said Limbaugh was an influence on his life because 
     of his love for the law and the court system.
       ``He also was the very epitome of what one strives to be as 
     a public speaker,'' he said.
                                                                    ____


            [From the Southeast Missourian, April 10, 1996]

           Rush Limbaugh: A Life of Service to City, Country

       A decade or so ago, a high-ranking resident of Washington, 
     D.C., was visiting relatives in Cape Girardeau. His hosts 
     insisted on taking him to meet Cape's most distinguished 
     citizen, Rush Hudson Limbaugh, Sr. When the visiting chief of 
     staff to a U.S. senator met the elderly gentleman, who 
     graciously received him at home, Limbaugh inquired as to his 
     guest's hometown. ``Oh, you won't know it--you can't possibly 
     have heard of it,'' responded the visitor. ``I'm from a 
     little town in upstate New York.'' Limbaugh pressed his 
     visitor for the name. Told the answer, he descended upon his 
     visitor with encyclopedic thoroughness, delivering a detailed 
     rendition

[[Page H3553]]

     of the strategic importance of that town in the Revolutionary 
     War, how it related to the world-decisive Battle of Saratoga, 
     and what this meant in the war for American independence. 
     Awestruck--having heard facts about his own hometown he 
     didn't know--the visitor departed, shaking his head in 
     amazement. Longtime friends of Limbaugh will understand the 
     visitor's reaction. Among people who have had the privilege 
     of knowing him these many years, astonishment and amazement 
     long ago became commonplace.
       ``Pop,'' said a certain nationally syndicated radio talk 
     show host to a rare studio guest four and a half years ago, 
     ``Who was president the year you were born?'' ``Benjamin 
     Harrison,'' came the reply, without a second's hesitation. 
     When he was a guest on his grandson's national radio show 
     that afternoon in September 1991 on the occasion of his 100th 
     birthday, Limbaugh was rounding out only his first century. 
     He was still going to the office and billing hours as the 
     nation's oldest practicing attorney. That broadcast 
     originated from Kansas City because Limbaugh was there with 
     family to attend the annual meeting of the Missouri Bar 
     Association, of which he and a son were former presidents.


                          a national treasure

       On that centennial, in a firm voice that belied his years, 
     Limbaugh continued, describing to an astonished national 
     audience a boyhood devotion to his first contemporary 
     political hero: Teddy Roosevelt. On in detail Limbaugh went, 
     describing what a heroic figure TR was, how crucial his 
     decisive action in sending the American naval fleet 
     worldwide, what this meant for an America beginning to emerge 
     from 19th century isolation into the first rank of world 
     powers, and why, therefore he, Limbaugh, followed the 
     magnificent TR out of the Republican Party to join the Bull 
     Moose insurgency in the great campaign of 1912. Through a 
     living, breathing history text was an audience of millions 
     introduced to a national treasure whom we here in Missouri, 
     and especially Cape Girardeau, had long valued so highly.
       Glowingly, the accolades pour in--from judges, congressmen, 
     senators, fellow members of the bar, Rotarians, friends far 
     and wide. Family man as brother, husband, father, 
     grandfather, great-grandfather. Author of a legal textbook 
     and of numerous articles. Accomplished orator. Leading 
     Methodist layman and Sunday School teacher. Paul Harris 
     Fellow of Rotary International. Life emeritus trustee of the 
     Missouri Historical Society and its former president. 
     Patriarch of a family of lawyers and Republicans. Limbaugh 
     was a scholar in the law, in history, in political theory and 
     in the Judeo-Christian tradition of ordered liberty. A 
     scholar of the life of Patrick Henry, from memory he could 
     quote William Makepeace Thackeray and Blackstone and so many 
     others.
       In 1985, family and friends packed into a local motel 
     banquet room to honor Limbaugh at a surprise dinner 
     celebration sponsored by local Rotarians. Tributes were read 
     from President Ronald Reagan and from Justice Lewis Powell of 
     the U.S. Supreme Court, long a Limbaugh friend. What stands 
     out in the memory, though, is the address of the guest of 
     honor. Few who were present that night will ever forget the 
     throat-catching sense of excitement he evoked when he arose, 
     without notes, for extemporaneous remarks. In a voice choked 
     with emotion, Limbaugh told his audience that they didn't so 
     much honor him as they did members of his family who, after 
     his father's early death, ``went without substance so that I 
     could be the first in the family to leave the farm and go to 
     Cape to the Normal School.''


                      the opportunity of education

       Limbaugh often spoke of his excitement upon traveling to 
     Cape Girardeau--a day's ride by horse-drawn wagon--and 
     glimpsing the spires of the school's main building. Here was 
     a chance at education. From this hilltop, a great world 
     beckoned. Prepare yourself, work hard, make your family 
     proud, and you could accomplish anything. This, after all, is 
     America, and this school, he told an audience at the 
     university's 1973 centennial, is nothing less than ``the 
     fulfillment of a great national purpose.''
       How richly he added to this school, this community, this 
     state and this nation. Few, then, there are of whom it can be 
     said, as it can of Rush Hudson Limbaugh Sr., ``Well done, 
     good and faithful servant. Enter into my kingdom.'' Somehow, 
     we all know Limbaugh heard those words this week when the 
     Lord called him home.
                                                                    ____


             [From the Southeast Missourian, Apr. 10, 1996]

                           Rush Limbaugh, Sr.

       Funeral service for Rush Hudson Limbaugh Sr., 635 Sylvan 
     Lane, will be held at 2 p.m. Thursday at Centenary United 
     Methodist Church. Dr. Neil Stein will officiate, with burial 
     in Lorimier Cemetery.
       Friends may call at Ford and Sons Mt. Auburn Chapel from 4-
     8 p.m. today, and Thursday from 10-11:30 a.m.
       Limbaugh, 104, died Monday, April 8, 1996, at his home.
       He was born Sept. 27, 1891, near Sedgewickville, son of 
     Joseph H. and Susan Presnell Limbaugh. He and Beulah ``Bee'' 
     Seabaugh were married Aug. 19, 1914, in Cape Girardeau. She 
     died Sept. 2, 1977.
       Limbaugh, the oldest practicing attorney in the United 
     States, had practiced law since 1916. He founded the law firm 
     of Limbaugh, Russell, Payne and Howard 50 years ago. He was a 
     member of Centenary Church.
       Survivors include two sons, Manley Limbaugh of Chester, 
     Ill., Stephen Limbaugh of St. Louis; 10 grandchildren, and 19 
     great-grandchildren.
       He was preceded in death by a son, two daughters, four 
     brothers and three sisters.

                          ____________________