[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 66 (Monday, May 13, 1996)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4957-S4958]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    ``TINKER'' AND ELNORA ST. CLAIR

  Mr. BYRD. Mr. President, I was deeply saddened by the recent death of 
Elnora Hall St. Clair, a loving mother, a doting grandmother, and the 
devoted wife of Arthur M. ``Tinker'' St. Clair, an important individual 
in our Senate family and a man whom I have been long glad to count as 
my friend.

[[Page S4958]]

  Elnora Hall was born in Waiteville, in southern West Virginia, deep 
in the heart of mining country. Like my own wife, Erma, Elnora was a 
coal miner's daughter. She grew up among solid, hard-working, faithful 
people--mountain people--in the hollows of my State. She graduated from 
Gary High School in McDowell County. On May 25, 1940, she married 
Tinker St. Clair, a lucky day for each of us whose lives that this 
couple has touched.

  Elnora was a homemaker, and that is a noble occupation that is vastly 
undervalued today. In addition to her membership in the Eastern Star of 
Welch, WV, and the Parent Teachers Association, she was active in the 
Democratic Party. Her interest in politics--Democratic politics--was 
one of the many passions that she and Tinker shared.
  With Elnora at his side, Tinker--after several years of driving a 
school bus and a company bus--became a deputy sheriff in McDowell 
County. He served as a court bailiff, the criminal investigator for the 
county's prosecuting attorney, and later became a justice of the peace.
  In 1965, Tinker was elected county clerk of McDowell County and 
Elnora pitched in whenever she could be of help. In 1971, well 
satisfied with his performance of his duties, the people of McDowell 
County selected him again to serve another 6-year term.
  But in 1979, Elnora informed Tinker that she wanted to go to 
Washington and she wanted to go to stay and she would not be coming 
back. ``The grandchildren are there,'' she told him, and she wanted to 
be near them. So, in July of that year, Tinker retired as county clerk 
of McDowell County, and he was appointed by me to serve as a doorkeeper 
in the U.S. Senate. Thus, this pair of southern West Virginians ended 
up here in Washington, where they would be close to their grandchildren 
and could watch them grow.
  While Elnora and Tinker set up house here, they never severed their 
ties to their West Virginia home. In all the years that they lived in 
the Washington area, Tinker rarely missed a Jefferson/Jackson Day 
dinner back in Charleston. He is a life member of the Brown's Creek 
Democratic Committee, and in election years, he still travels along the 
winding mountain roads of southern West Virginia, going up and down the 
hills and back into the hollows nailing up the campaign posters and 
spreading the Democratic word. Elnora accompanied him on many of those 
``politicking'' trips. Whenever possible, they would drive back to 
Welch and visit with long-time friends, and when it came time to lay 
her to rest, Tinker took Elnora back home to West Virginia, back in 
Mercer County.
  Mr. President, on May 25, Tinker and Elnora would have celebrated 56 
years of marriage. How blessed they were that God would give them so 
many years together. Indeed, how blessed many of us have been by their 
long union.

  They made quite a pair. Elnora was lively and animated. She loved to 
hear a good joke and she had a knack for telling them. She complemented 
Tinker very well. He, the more serious, you would think, more reserved 
of the two, delighted in her ways. They cajoled and kidded each other. 
She would tease him about his thrifty ways. He would tell folks of his 
plans to hand her a toothpick and take her to the Price Club for Sunday 
brunch. They looked after each other. She would fiddle with his twisted 
suspenders. They loved each other.
  In addition to Tinker, Elnora is survived by two daughters, Patty St. 
Clair and Linda Pence, and three grandchildren, Kimberly George, and 
Eddie and Mack Pence. Also surviving is one great grandson, Nicholas 
George, in whom Elnora revelled.
  And so Erma and I extend our sympathies to this wonderful family, and 
especially to Tinker, a diligent and loyal Senate staffer--one who 
reveres this institution--a solid citizen, a compassionate, honorable 
man, an outstanding West Virginian.
  And on a personal note, I would say to Tinker, you have the promise 
of seeing Elnora again. She knows of your grief today. I lost a loving 
grandson about 14 years ago, and I felt that Michael knew of my grief 
and I was sustained, as I walked through the deep valley, by the hope 
that some day I might see Michael again, because we are taught by the 
Bible to believe in a life beyond the grave.
  William Jennings Bryan perhaps said it best when he said:

       If the Father deigns to touch with divine power the cold 
     and pulseless heart of the buried acorn to make it burst 
     forth from its prison walls, again the mighty oak, will he 
     leave neglected in the cold and silent grave, the soul of 
     man, made in his own image? And if he stoops to give to the 
     rosebush, whose withered blossoms float upon the Autumn 
     breeze, the sweet assurance of another springtime, will he 
     refuse the words of hope to the Sons of Men when the frosts 
     of winter come? And if matter, mute and inanimate, though 
     changed by the forces of nature into a multitude of forms, 
     can never be destroyed, then will the imperial spirit of man 
     suffer annihilation after a brief visit like a royal guest to 
     this tenement of clay? No, I prefer to believe that He, who, 
     in His apparent prodigality, created nothing without a 
     purpose and wasted not a single atom in all of his vast 
     creation, has made provision for a future life in which 
     man's universal longing for immortality shall achieve its 
     realization. I am as sure that we will live again, as I am 
     sure that we live today.

  That was William Jennings Bryan in his book ``The Prince of Peace.''
  I should like to think, in closing, of a bit of verse written by 
someone--I know not whom--which conveys a comforting thought that I 
would like to dedicate to Tinker and his daughters and grandchildren.

     Near a shady wall a rose once grew,
     Budded and blossomed in God's free light,
     Watered and fed by morning dew,
     Shedding its sweetness day and night.

     As it grew and blossomed fair and tall,
     Slowly rising to loftier height,
     It came to a crevice in the wall,
     Through which there shone a beam of light.

     Onward it crept with added strength,
     With never a thought of fear or pride.
     It followed the light through the crevice's length,
     And unfolded itself on the other side.

     The light, the dew, the broadening view
     Were found the same as they were before,
     And it lost itself in beauties new,
     Spreading its fragrance more and more.

     Shall claim of death cause us to grieve,
     And make our courage faint or fall?
     Nay! Let us hope and faith receive:
     The rose still grows beyond the wall.

     Scattering fragrance far and wide,
     And just as it did in days of yore,
     Just as it did on the other side,
     And just as it will forevermore.

  Mr. President, I yield the floor and suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. BINGAMAN addressed the Chair.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from New Mexico.
  Mr. BINGAMAN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  (The remarks of Mr. Bingaman pertaining to the introduction of S. 
1743 are located in today's Record under ``Statements on Introduced 
Bills and Joint Resolutions.'')

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