[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 49 (Wednesday, April 17, 1996)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3426-S3427]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      TRIBUTE TO JOHN O. HEMPERLEY

  Mr. HATFIELD. Mr. President, I rise today to pay tribute to John O. 
Hemperley, the Budget Officer of the Library of Congress, who passed 
away last Saturday.
  Members and staff of the Appropriations Committee rely heavily on the 
expertise, efficiency, and responsiveness of agency budget officers. 
Throughout our Federal Government there is a corps of budget 
professionals who set the example of dedicated public service. John 
Hemperley embodied the highest standards of his profession. He 
possessed a knowledge and understanding of the Library's budget that 
was unsurpassed, and he was unfailingly responsive in sharing that 
knowledge with our committee and its staff. He was fierce in his 
defense of the Library's mission and the budget funding that mission, 
but he never misrepresented the facts, and he always

[[Page S3427]]

faithfully executed the budget enacted by the Congress.
  The Library of Congress is a unique and treasured institution. It is 
the greatest repository of knowledge in the history of the world, and 
for 196 years the Congress of the United States has supported and 
nurtured its development. Today the Library faces the challenge of 
providing new electronic services to all its constituent groups while 
maintaining its traditional services to the Congress and the Nation, 
all in a time of severe fiscal constraint.
  John O. Hemperley was a unique and treasured individual. For the past 
23 years, he supported and nurtured the Library of Congress in its 
relationship with the Committee on Appropriations. He will be sorely 
missed, not only by those who knew and loved him here in the Senate and 
in the Library, but by all those who may never have known him but who 
benefit daily from the enormous resources the Library provides. The 
challenges the Library faces will be more daunting without him.
  Mr. President, I know I speak for Senator Mack, the chairman of our 
Legislative Branch Appropriations Subcommittee, and for all other 
members of the Appropriations Committee, and our staff, in expressing 
our great sorrow and extending sincere condolences to John's wife, Bess 
Hemperley, their children, and grandchildren. And may John rest in 
peace with God.

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