[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 84 (Tuesday, June 17, 1997)]
[House]
[Page H3806]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
TRIBUTE TO JONNA LYNNE (J.L.) CULLEN, A REMARKABLE WOMAN
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of
January 21, 1997, the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Upton) is recognized
during morning hour debates for 5 minutes.
Mr. UPTON. Mr. Speaker, it is my sad duty today to report the death
of a very good friend of this House, Jonna Lynne Cullen. J.L., as we
called her, was a special staff member who served this Nation for many,
many years as a staff member to Trent Lott in the Committee on Rules;
she worked this House in many different ways. I got to know her when I
began to serve at the Office of Management and Budget under President
Reagan, where she was the first director of the Office of Legislative
Affairs, the first woman director of that office.
Several weeks ago there were a number of Members on both sides of the
aisle that held a special tribute to her. They included, the gentleman
from Louisiana [Mr. Livingston], the chairman of the Committee on
Appropriations, the gentleman from California [Mr. Thomas], the
gentleman from Massachusetts [Mr. Moakley], the gentleman from Virginia
[Mr. Wolf], the gentleman from Texas [Mr. Thornberry], the gentlewoman
from Connecticut [Mrs. Johnson], and myself. A similar tribute was held
on the Senate floor. Both Majority Leader Lott, Senator Cochran,
Senator Snowe, and Senator Dorgan were involved, with very kind words
for a woman with a very distinguished career.
I would like to announce that there will be a special tribute to her
this Friday in the Russell caucus room at 11 o'clock for her friends
and family. Saturday there will be a service, a memorial service, at
the Presbyterian Church in Georgetown at 2 o'clock.
I just want to wish her family well. This was a tremendous loss for
this country, for a woman that bridged both sides of the aisle. She was
one that many Republicans and Democrats held in special love and grace
for the work that she did. We wish to send condolences to her family as
well.
Jonna Lynne ``J.L.'' Cullen--A Tribute to a Remarkable Woman
Dear Colleague: As many of you have heard, our dear friend
Jonna Lynne ``J.L.'' Cullen lost her long and courageous
fight with cancer late last week. She served Congress as a
prominent and distinguished staffer from 1967 until 1981. Her
energy, expertise and acts of kindness blessed many lives,
including our own.
Starting her career as a staff assistant on the House Rules
Committee for the late Chairman William Colmer (D-Miss), J.L.
rose through the ranks to ultimately serve as Associate
Minority Counsel for the Republican minority.
In 1981 she served as the first female Director of
Congressional Relations at the Office of Management and
Budget. She contained to be heavily involved in the political
process after leaving the administration, serving on
President Reagan's Bipartisan Commission on Central America.
Beyond her many professional accomplishments, J.L. was one
of those rare and wonderful individuals who relished being a
mentor, role model and always a generous friend.
In her honor, we are pleased to announce two services
allowing all who loved her to attend and pay their respects.
First, a special tribute will be held to celebrate J.L.'s
life on Friday, June 20, l997 at 11:00 a.m. in the Senate
Caucus Room in room 325, Russell Senate Office Building. A
reception with J.L.'s family will be held immediately after.
On Saturday, June 21, 1997 at 2:00 p.m., a Memorial Service
will be held at the Georgetown Presbyterian Church, 3115 P
Street, northwest Washington. A reception at the church will
follow.
Notes of condolences can be sent to her mother, Mrs. Joel
Shipp, 5480 Meadow Oaks Park Drive, Jackson, MS 39211 and her
stepmother Mrs. John Cullen, 490 Stonewall, Memphis, TN
38112. In lieu of flowers, a contribution in J.L.'s memory
can be made to the Hospice of Northern Virginia, 6400
Arlington Boulevard, Suite 1000, Falls Church, VA 22042 or
the Cancer Research Foundation of America, 200 Dangerfield
Road, Alexandria, VA 22314.
Trent Lott,
Senator Majority Leader.
Thad Cochran,
Member of the Senate.
Fred Upton,
Member of the House.
Nancy Johnson,
Member of the House.
____
[From the Washington Post, June 19, 1997]
Obituaries
joanna lynn `j.l.' cullen--businesswoman
Joanna Lynn Cullen, 54, founder of a food speciality
business and a former director of congressional relations for
the Office of Management and Budget, died of breast cancer
June 5 at her home in Alexandria.
She also worked as a congressional aide and a government
affairs consultant and lobbyist whose clients included the
City of Dallas and the Cunard cruise line.
Miss Cullen was a gourmet cook who frequently organized
dinners for reporters and for the female members of Congress
whose numbers were increasing in the 1980s. She began her
firm, J.L. Gourmand, in the late 1980s, making her own
flavored pestos, called Pesto Plus. She sold them on her own
at the Saturday Farmer's Market in Alexandria and to stores
and restaurants.
Miss Cullen was born in Memphis and later lived in Jackson,
Miss. She was a graduate of the University of Mississippi.
She moved to Washington in 1967 to be an intern on Capitol
Hill. She was a staff assistant on the House Rules Committee
and later became associate minority counsel for the
Republicans.
She joined the staff of OMB Director David Stockman in 1981
and guided efforts aimed at gaining congressional support for
tax cuts and budget plans proposed by the administration of
Ronald Reagan. She became an independent lobbyist and
consultant in 1984.
Miss Cullen served on Reagan's Bipartisan Commission on
Central America and chaired the Commission on Compensation of
Career Federal Executives under President George Bush. The
compensation commission reported in 1988 that the pay gap
between senior federal executives and the private sector had
grown to 65 percent.
Miss Cullen was a founder of Charter 100, a women's
networking organization. She traveled overseas as a business
adviser to female entrepreneurs. She also was a member of Les
Dames d'Escoffier International and a volunteer for the
American Cancer Society and Cancer Research Foundation.
She also was a watercolorist whose botanical works were
exhibited and sold locally.
A tribute to Miss Cullen was held last month on the floor
of the House.
Survivors include her mother and stepfather, Louise Shipp
and Joel E. Shipp, both of Jackson, Miss.; her stepmother,
Harriet Ann Cullen of Memphis; and three brothers.
____
Cullen, Jonna Lynne (J.L.)--On Thursday, June 5, 1997, at
her residence in Alexandria, VA, daughter of Mr. and Mrs.
Joel E. Shipp of Jackson, MS and Mrs. Harriet Ann Cullen and
the late John N. Cullen, Jr., of Memphis, TN. Also survived
three brothers, three nieces and one nephew. Memorial service
at Georgetown Presbyterian Church, 3115 P St., NW, 2 P.M.
Saturday, June 21. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions
may be made to Hospice of Northern Virginia, 6400 Arlington
Blvd., Suite 1000, Falls Church, VA 22042, or the Cancer
Research Foundation of America, 200 Dangerfield Rd.,
Alexandria, VA 22314.
____________________