[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 97 (Thursday, June 27, 1996)]
[House]
[Pages H7100-H7102]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




               EULOGY FOR THE LATE HONORABLE BILL EMERSON

  (Mr. ROBERTS asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks and include extraneous 
material.
  Mr. ROBERTS. Mr. Speaker, today, in the Cape Girardeau First 
Presbtyerian Church, in very emotional but appropriate services, the 
loving family, friends, colleagues, and constituents of Bill Emerson 
bade farewell and paid tribute to our dear friend and colleague.
  Mr. Speaker, just 2 days ago, Member after Member of this body rose 
in an outpouring of personal tribute to our late colleague; the 
comments diverse in content but uniform in affection, appreciation, and 
sense of personal loss. A veteran member of this House observed the 
tribute to Bill was the most far reaching in terms of both time and 
members that has been witnessed in recent times.
  Mr. Speaker, the American Heritage Dictionary defines `'eulogy'' as a 
public speech or tribute extolling the virtues or achievements of a 
person and honoring one recently deceased. The eulogy for Bill was 
given by his longtime friend and trusted assistant, Lloyd Smith, and in 
his remarks, Lloyd provided all of us a life portrait of Bill so 
fitting to our celebration of his life. In behalf of the Speaker and 
all of those present, we thank Lloyd for his most fitting, appropriate 
and comforting tribute.
  I commend to my colleagues and to the citizens of his beloved Eighth 
Congressional District and this country that he served so well, the 
eulogy in behalf of our friend, the Honorable Bill

[[Page H7101]]

Emerson, Congressman from the Eighth Congressional District of 
Missouri.
  The eulogy referred to is as follows:

       Marie, Jo Ann, Liz, Abby, Tori, Kathryn, Mr Speaker, 
     Colleagues and the many friends of Bill Emerson, both here in 
     this beautiful sanctuary and around the area, today I have 
     the distinct honor and pleasure to share a few words about 
     the life journey of our friend Bill Emerson. This 
     extraordinary journey makes this day a day of celebration.
       Even in his passing Bill had the last word. Now, why should 
     that be different? Because in my 15 years of working for him, 
     he always had the last word.
       You know, I'm doing this today because Bill dictated it in 
     a memo, and I always did what Bill told me to do--
     (particularly if it was in writing). Bill's biography is 
     known to most, and although it is well know, in rereading it 
     I found a grievous error. The Committee assignments were 
     correct, both Agriculture and the Committee on Transportation 
     and Infrastructure--but the first line in the second 
     paragraph reads--``Bill's political career began at the age 
     of 15 when he was appointed a Page in the U.S. House of 
     Representatives.'' Now folks, that is simply not the fact. 
     Bill's career began on the knee of a sage politician in 
     Jefferson County. Bill's political career and life's journey 
     began when he listened to Associate County Judge Bill (Fritz) 
     Reinemer tell stories about political battles. Mr. Reinemer, 
     Marie's father (and Bill's grandfather), was the strongest 
     political influence in Bill's life. He urged young William 
     (along with Marie's teaching guidance) to read newspapers, 2 
     or 3 a day, ``because you never know which one is distorting 
     the facts.''
       As a Mayor and county school board member, Grandpa Reinemer 
     taught little Billy to listen to people--to listen to people. 
     So, the beginning of Bill Emerson's political journey was on 
     his Grandpa's knee.
       Most people think that his Page experience was his first 
     trip to Washington, DC. It wasn't. He had previously traveled 
     there with his Mom and Margaret Kelly, our State Auditor, and 
     her mom.
       He may have caught the national political fever on that 
     trip. Because his next journey to DC was in January 1953, to 
     see Ike (the beloved General) inaugurated as the 34th 
     President of the United States. He traveled by train alone at 
     15 years of age, and with only one brown suit.
       While there Congressman Tom Curtis tracked Bill down and 
     offered him a Page position in the House of Representatives. 
     The problem was the job started in two days and Billy didn't 
     have a blue suit. He bought one and some black shoes and 
     called his Mom and told her the news. Marie had sent her 15-
     year old son to Washington, DC alone on a train, and now her 
     only child had been appointed a Page in the U.S. House. Marie 
     cried, and old Judge Reinemer went straight to a Republican 
     Township meeting and celebrated and told them Billy wasn't 
     with him because he had gone to help Ike run the country--and 
     even better, the Republicans were in the majority in 
     Congress. The journey continued.
       While in Page school, Bill met Paul Kanjorski, who is here 
     today and they were not only roommates and Pages in the 
     Congress, they also served together as Members. Bill and Mr. 
     Kanjorski were there when the Puerto Rican Nationals shot up 
     the House of Representatives from the gallery. They helped 
     carry Members from the chamber. Following this incident, the 
     journey would continue and would lead to graduation from the 
     House Page School, Westminster College, and the University of 
     Baltimore. The next part of his life's journey included 
     working with Congressman Bob Ellsworth of Kansas and 
     Congressman Senator Mac Mathias of Maryland, and many 
     corporate jobs. Along this early way, Bill married and had 
     two wonderful children, Liz and Abby--and then the journey 
     really got exciting for Southeast Missouri.
       In 1979 Bill came home a 6th generation Missourian and 
     threw caution and his corporate career to the wind. He ran 
     for and won a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives by 
     defeating a 6-term incumbent (no one could believe it--since 
     the seat had not been held by a republican in years). His 
     journey mates in 1980 were his wife Jo Ann, and his new 
     daughter Tori, as well as Liz and Abby. Jo Ann, a politician 
     in her own right, pounded the streets and campaigned with 
     Bill side-by-side. The journey which had begun at his 
     granddad's knee now had come again to the U.S. House of 
     Representatives, but now Bill was a Member of the institution 
     he loved.
       His campaign manager in 1980 was Peter Kinder, now a MO 
     State Senator. His political consultant was Al Sikes--who is 
     with us today.
       Bill won with a coalition of conservative democrats and 
     republicans, and he continued to win because he never forgot 
     his grandfather's admonition to listen to the people. With 
     Bill, there were no democrats or republicians--only 
     constituents. (Newspaper editorial--Emercrats)
       He said yes to his constituents with expanded services and 
     answering the mail (he loved signing those letters and 
     catching those mistakes).
       On numerous occasions he would ask if every ``t'' had been 
     crossed and every ``I'' dotted. He personally wanted to make 
     sure the right envelope was with the right letter--even after 
     we started using window envelopes.
       Bill was, in the words of our junior U.S. Senator, John 
     Ascroft, ``of the people.'' To quote the old saying he 
     ``danced with those what brung him.''
       His journey of service to the 8th district included touring 
     farms, the National Forest, the clear running Ozark streams, 
     and his beloved Mississippi River all across our 26 country 
     district. Bill would often comment that our Congressional 
     District is 5000 square miles larger than the country of 
     Switzerland. He loved the people and we loved him. His staff, 
     whom he loved and encouraged, is a legacy to Bill. Numerous 
     of the staff and volunteers have gone on to elective offices 
     and stellar careers. Although he trusted his staff, in 
     certain cases when the final decision was made--it was always 
     his decision. As he reminded us many times--``you know I am 
     the Congressman.''
       The journey included a deep love of family. He could name 
     his first, second and third cousins, and all his aunts, 
     uncles and great aunts and uncles by name. His love and 
     deepest pride was for his daughters. He cherished his time 
     with them and would brag about Tori's grades and softball 
     finesse; Kathryn's soccer success and her outstanding oboe 
     playing abilities. He rejoiced with each new career 
     advancement of Liz and Abby. He loved them all and only 
     regretted he had not spent more time with them. And, that's 
     why today the family should know that the journey included 
     them in a very important way. Marie, Jo Ann, Liz, Abby, Tori, 
     and Kathryn, shared Bill with this District. His 
     accomplishments are their accomplishments as well.
       Whether it's new bridge here at Cape, a new Highway 60, 
     providing food for the starving in Somalia or the hungry here 
     at home, or helping the disabled person, you were a part of 
     the journey. You shared with half a million people, the most 
     precious resource--your son's, your husband's and your 
     father's time. You allowed Bill's journey to include all of 
     us and we consider you family--just as he considered us 
     family.
       Probably the pinnacle of his Congressional career was 
     chairing the House of Representatives on opening day of the 
     104th Congress, the institution he loved. A man ``of the 
     people,'' the journey had bridged the Republican 83rd 
     Congress of 1953, and the Republican Congress of 1995. We all 
     rejoiced with him.
       There was another part of the life journey of Bill 
     Emerson--the spiritual side. He loved his Lord, and in recent 
     years and months, had been heavily involved in the Thursday 
     Morning Prayer Breakfast and also a small chapel group that 
     met each Tuesday. It seems to me that after chairing the 
     National Prayer Breakfast in 1993, his spiritual journey 
     became his mainstay--whether it was helping those that had 
     substance abuse problems or spreading the gospel to places 
     such as the former Soviet Union--he, indeed, felt ``a calling 
     to spiritually reach out to his fellowman.'' He loved 
     uplifting music and sometimes driving down the highway we 
     would strike up a gospel favorite. An ongoing joke was that 
     we needed to keep the windows rolled up because we could be 
     charged with noise pollution.
       One of our favorite scriptures was Isaiah 40:30-31--
       ``Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble 
     and fall: but those who hope in the Lord will renew their 
     strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run 
     and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.''
       Last Saturday the journey on this earth for Bill ended, but 
     I know, and the family knows, that Bill soared on wings like 
     eagles, and he now runs and is not faint.
       In your program is Bill's favorite Theodore Roosevelt 
     quote:
       ``It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points 
     out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds 
     could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man 
     who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust 
     and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly; who errs, and 
     comes short again and again, because there is not effort 
     without error and shortcoming, but who does actually strive 
     to do the deeds, who knows the great enthusiasms, the great 
     devotions, who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the 
     best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and 
     who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring 
     greatly so that his place shall never be with those cold and 
     timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.''
       Bill's journey into the arena of life touched many of us. 
     One staff member, in a note to Bill on Saturday, wrote ``I am 
     honored to have been a part of your team on earth and one day 
     we will be on the same team again.''
       Today, Bill's journey on this earth will end at the place 
     it began--in the small community of Hillsboro, at his 
     grandfather's side. But his eternal journey has already 
     started, and the hymns he's singing now in glory, exceed his 
     beloved Mormon Tabernacle Choir. To his family and friends he 
     would state the Prince of Wales quote as he sent the troops 
     into battle--``Be strong to endure and resolute to 
     overcome.'' Another Emerson handwritten note to a departing 
     staff member read: ``I'm sorry I missed you, but I'm not good 
     at saying goodbye, and besides it's not goodbye--just altered 
     circumstances.''
       Thank you Bill Emerson for taking us on this journey with 
     you. Remember, it is not ``goodbye--just altered 
     circumstances.''
       God Bless the family and all of you.

[[Page H7102]]



          REMOVAL OF NAME OF MEMBER AS COSPONSOR OF H.R. 1462

  Mr. POSHARD. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that my name be 
removed as a cosponsor of H.R. 1462.
  Mr. Speaker, I would also like to second the comments made by my dear 
friend, the gentleman from Kansas, about the services for Bill Emerson.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from Illinois?
  There was no objection.

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