[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 84 (Tuesday, June 17, 1997)]
[House]
[Pages H3832-H3833]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       TRIBUTE TO MASON LANKFORD

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Pennsylvania [Mr. Weldon] is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. WELDON of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I rise this evening to pay 
tribute to a great American who passed away yesterday evening while 
involved in a State conference involving the fire service of the State 
of Texas.
  Nine years ago, Mr. Speaker, in my first term in this Congress, in an 
attempt to provide representation for the 1.2 million men and women who 
every day of the year respond to disasters in this country, I formed 
what has become the largest caucus in the Congress, the congressional 
fire and emergency services caucus.

[[Page H3833]]

  During that first term, I was able to convince minority leader Bob 
Michel to join with us and to help us kick off what would be a 
tremendous decade of success for the men and women who every day risk 
their lives. I was not, however, able to convince Speaker Wright to 
join.
  I gave a speech out at the National Fire Academy, and one of the 
attendees there was a man by the name of Mason Lankford from Texas. 
Mason came up to me after that meeting and said, ``You need the Speaker 
to be involved?'' And I said yes, and within a week Mason had convinced 
his good friend, Speaker Jim Wright, to support our efforts. Jim became 
a very aggressive supporter of the fire service during the rest of his 
tenure as the Speaker of this body.
  Mason Lankford, over the past 9 years, Mr. Speaker, as a 
representative of the Texas Fire Service, past president of their State 
association, past active member of the Fort Worth Fire Department, 
known throughout Fort Worth and the Arlington area as someone who was 
always willing to give of himself, was doing what he liked best 
yesterday, Mr. Speaker. He was addressing the members of the Texas Fire 
Service in Galveston.
  He had been introduced by his good friend, Chief Willie Wiscow of the 
Galveston Fire Department, and following Mason's brief comments, 
unfortunately, he passed away.
  Mason will be remembered, Mr. Speaker, by the 1.2 million men and 
women across this country who every day risk their lives, for having 
helped create a new awareness of fire and life safety issues in this 
Congress. It was Mason Lankford who over the past 9 years helped 
convince over 400 Members of Congress to join our efforts to provide 
more awareness and more support for these brave men and women.
  Mason attended each of our nine dinners here in Washington, where he 
helped organize those events, annually raising between $400,000 and 
$500,000 to provide staff support for the issues important to 
firefighters and emergency medical personnel across the country.
  Day in and day out Mason Lankford was there helping those who he knew 
best, those men and women who he worked with in Texas and throughout 
this country in both the paid and the volunteer fire and EMS services.
  We are going to miss Mason, Mr. Speaker, and I rise tonight to pay 
tribute to him. I know all of our colleagues on both sides of the aisle 
wish Mason's family well through these very difficult times. And I know 
that all of us will join in remembering Mason for the outstanding 
contribution that he made to society, that he made to mankind.
  The services for Mason will be Thursday at 2 p.m. At the First 
Methodist Church in Arlington, TX, and I ask all of my colleagues, Mr. 
Speaker, to join together and extend our condolences and best wishes to 
Mason's wife, Lynn, and his children Joe and Nancy, who are following 
in Mason's footsteps.
  Again, Mr. Speaker, it is a tragic loss. We are all going to miss 
Mason, but Mason certainly has completed an outstanding effort on 
behalf of those firefighters in this country who are better off, who 
are better equipped, who are better trained and who are better served 
because of his efforts, not just over the past 9 years but even before 
that as an active member of the largest group of unsung heroes in this 
country, our domestic defenders, our fire and EMS personnel.

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