[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 49 (Wednesday, April 23, 1997)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E718]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




          WESSELL'S CELEBRATE 50 YEARS IN NEWSPAPER PUBLISHING

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. HENRY J. HYDE

                              of illinois

                    in the house of representatives

                       Wednesday, April 23, 1997

  Mr. HYDE. Mr. Speaker, at an early age Dick and Mary Jane Wessell 
arrived at the same conclusion: both wanted to write for newspapers. 
When they finally met while studying together in the early 1940's at 
Lake Forest College, Dick was the editor of the college newspaper, and 
Mary Jane wrote feature stores. A bond of mutual friendship and love 
was formed.
  Today, the Wessell family celebrates 50 days of service to the 
northwest suburbs. It was in early 1947 that Dick and Mary Jane, the 
college sweethearts who married shortly after graduation, scraped 
together moneys saved from Dick's navy service in World War II and Mary 
Jane's employment with the U.S. Government, and purchased the Des 
Plaines Journal. What the Wessells purchased was a single weekly 
newspaper. During the course of the next 50 years, the Wessells, with 
help from their 6 children and 13 grandchildren, expanded the business 
to 17 prize-winning newspapers serving 28 suburban communities.
  Dick started his career, in neighboring Park Ridge in June 1935, as a 
reporter for Pickwick Newspapers. A political science major in college, 
Dick has never lost his interest and respect for the political process. 
He served 2 years in 1968-70 in Washington with then-Senator Birch Bayh 
of Indiana; and he worked on the campaigns of former Gov. William 
Stratton, the late Senator Paul Douglas and Lt. Gov. John W. Chapman.
  Mary Jane earned her degree in English and wrote a travel column for 
Journal & Topics Newspapers for 35 years in addition to her vital 
duties as an equal partner in the family business.
  I extend to the entire Wessell family my heartiest of congratulations 
on this very special anniversary.

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