[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 138 (Monday, September 30, 1996)]
[Senate]
[Page S11968]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   RETIREMENT OF SENATOR DAVID PRYOR

  Ms. MOSELEY-BRAUN. Mr. President, I would like to take this 
opportunity to pay tribute to my colleague and friend, Senator David 
Pryor, who will be leaving the Senate at the end of this term.
  Public service is a strong tradition in Senator Pryor's family. His 
mother was the first woman in Arkansas to run for public office after 
the passage of the 19th amendment, and both his father and grandfather 
were county sheriffs.
  Senator Pryor's own involvement in public service began early, as a 
congressional page. During that time, Senator Pryor demonstrated both 
his commitment to a life of public service and his ability to 
accurately predict the future: As a teenage page, he placed a dime in 
one of the recesses of a column of the Capitol, and vowed that he would 
return for that coin as a Senator. Less than three decades later, after 
serving three terms in the Arkansas House, three terms in the U.S. 
House, and two terms as Governor of Arkansas, Senator Pryor reclaimed 
his dime, which had somehow eluded cleaning crews for all those years.
  I am grateful to have served with Senator Pryor on two committees: 
Finance and Special Aging, where I have had the opportunity to observe 
first hand his dedication to serving the needs of our Nation's elderly 
and children in need, as well as his delightful creativity.
  Senator Pryor's commitment to serving the needs of older Americans 
was first demonstrated when he was a young freshman Congressman. He was 
innovative enough to host a number of catfish fundraising dinners to 
establish the House Select Committee on Aging, which he housed 
temporarily in a trailer. Senator Pryor later served as the chairman of 
the Senate Special Aging Committee, where he concentrated his efforts 
on improving the quality of long term care in nursing homes. In his own 
inimitable fashion, he gathered information about these issues while 
serving as an undercover orderly in the 1960's. The most recent example 
of his creativity and his thoughtfulness came to fruition earlier this 
week, when the entire Senate sported bow ties in honor of my colleague, 
Paul Simon. Senator Pryor arranged to have the ties made in Little Rock 
as a tribute to my fellow Illinoisian.
  The Senate will not be the same without David Pryor. His presence in 
Washington will be sorely missed by Arkansas, by the Senate, and by me, 
personally. I am very proud to have served with him.

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