[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 86 (Thursday, June 19, 1997)]
[House]
[Pages H3926-H3927]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    TRIBUTE TO THE LATE BILL EMERSON

  (Mr. SKELTON asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. SKELTON. Mr. Speaker, it is 1 year ago that we lost our friend, 
our colleague, my fellow Missourian, Bill Emerson. In his stead and in 
his shoes today is that charming and wonderful gentlewoman from 
Missouri, Mrs. Jo Ann Emerson, who represents the Eighth District of 
the State of Missouri.
  The grief has passed, the loss of pain has passed, and I still find 
myself, Mr. Speaker, because I rode with him so very often to and from 
this work, at the end of the day standing toward the back looking 
around for my friend Bill to hitch a ride out to McLean. But we still 
have a lot of wonderful memories. His memories live on.
  He was truly an outstanding legislator. He understood bipartisanship. 
He understood what it was to represent

[[Page H3927]]

wonderful people back home. He understood the legislative process. But 
most of all I found him, as so many, many did, as a friend, a true 
friend.
  What he leaves today is more for those who follow us in this Chamber 
and who lead and will lead America in the days and years ahead; to the 
pages, which he once was, to the young people who he spent so much time 
with in his office and back home in the Eighth District of Missouri, 
for he was truly a role model.
  I hope and pray that his memory will live in those young folks who 
will stand in his shoes, in our shoes in the years ahead. We miss him, 
but we revere his memory. We always shall.

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