[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 106 (Thursday, July 18, 1996)]
[Senate]
[Page S8151]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




              TRIBUTE TO THE REVEREND DR. OTIS A. HERRING

  Mr. BIDEN. Mr. President, with the death of the Reverend Dr. Otis A. 
Herring on Friday, July 12, the Wilmington, DE, community--and indeed a 
much larger community of family, friends and faith--suffered a loss we 
can not help mourn.
  It is the loss of a husband and father, a son and brother, a 
grandfather and uncle, a nephew and cousin--a man who deeply loved and 
was deeply loved by his family
  It is the loss of a inspiring preacher and inspired pastor who 
devoted 35 years of spiritual leadership of Wilmington's Union Baptist 
Church and the surrounding community.
  It is the loss a morally engaged citizen who spoke fearlessly and 
worked tirelessly for the less fortunate among us; the loss of a man 
who created out of his own determined faith and the conscience of the 
community resources to serve the poor and the disadvantaged.
  It is the loss of a friend and mentor, whose example made better 
people and a better community out of all of us.
  But despite that catalog of loss we feel so keenly, Reverend 
Herring's death is not, in fact, an occasion fit only for grieving.
  In the first place, if we can ever be sure that any man has attained 
the spiritual goal that is the promise of the faith many of us share, 
Otis Herring was beyond a doubt just such a man.
  His memorial service was rightly called a ``Homegoing Celebration,'' 
for the most important thing about reverend Herring was that he 
believed. His whole life was an expression of that belief, and even as 
we sorrow for our loss, we must celebrate the final victory that he 
never for one moment doubted.
  And we celebrate, too, with lasting gratitude, the living legacy of 
Otis Herring, a legacy that endures because he lived his faith with a 
steadfastness and a power that literally reshaped the community to 
which he was so devoted.
  It is a legacy that lives in Union Baptist Community Services, a 
nonprofit organization that Reverend Herring founded and served for 22 
years as executive director, and that counts among its neighborhood-
designed programs a day-care center, anti-drug outreach, crisis 
assistance, mentoring and counseling for at-risk youth and families, 
housing for the disabled, tutoring and job training, a housing 
corporation, a neighborhood-improvement program, and a food closet.
  It is a legacy that lives because Reverend Herring was a leader who 
called on us to come together as members of one community, a leader who 
made us not only see but feel our common bond and common obligation to 
one another as citizens and as children of God.
  Reverend Herring's own exceptional citizenship earned wideranging 
respect and recognition. In addition to high honors from the State of 
Delaware and the city of Wilmington, he received tributes from numerous 
organizations and institutions, including the University of Delaware 
and Delaware State University, the Delaware Businessmen's Association 
and the Brandywine Professional Association, the News Journal newspaper 
and the Jefferson Awards, the National Conference of Christians and 
Jews, the Mental Health Association, the National Urban Coalition, and 
many fraternal and civic organizations.
  The record of Otis Herring's achievements and contributions, and the 
list of awards and tributes recognizing them, is all the more 
extraordinary when we recall that he began to lose his eyesight when he 
was just a senior in high school, and that he was blind throughout his 
adult life.
  Otis Herring was, in fact, a magnificent irony among us.
  He lived in darkness, yet he illuminated the world around him; he was 
blind, yet he saw his way through life with a clarity both humbling and 
inspiring to the rest of us; he lost his sight, but he never lost his 
way, and he never failed to lead us to a higher ground.
  As an editorial in Delaware's News Journal paper said, accurately and 
eloquently, of Reverend Herring, ``His vision of his role in the world 
was unimpaired.'' And to that I would add only that our vision of our 
role in the world is brighter, more challenging and more rewarding 
because of the way he lived his life among us.
  In extending our sympathies to Reverend Herring's wife, Carol, to his 
son, Steven, to his mother, brother, sister, grandson, and loving 
extended family, we do indeed share their deep sadness and sense of 
loss.
  But we also share their sure and certain faith that, long after the 
sadness of his death has passed, Otis Herring's life will stand as a 
triumph and as a neverending cause for celebration.

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