[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 111 (Thursday, July 31, 1997)]
[Senate]
[Page S8515]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




        THANKS AND APPRECIATION TO DAN DUKES AND CELESTE EMBREY

  Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I would like to take a moment to recognize 
two young people who served on my staff through all the long hours and 
difficult days of the last year.
  After I was elected majority leader, the next morning at 9 o'clock, I 
was in the majority leader's office, but I only had about a third or 
half of the staff that I needed. I had some interns from my State of 
Mississippi, some college students, who had been working with me just 
through the summer. I asked them to stay and help us, and they have 
been with me the last year.
  They filled positions that are very vital. They did a great job.
  Dan Dukes of Como, MS, has been like my alter ego. He has been with 
me throughout the day and, on occasions, when I had to go downtown, he 
has just done a fantastic job.
  He has been my personal assistant, shepherding my appointments, 
finding my lost notebooks, and keeping up with my headlong dashes from 
meeting to meeting.
  Dan has had the patience of a saint and the attention to detail of a 
seasoned Hill staffer. It is an understatement to say that I will miss 
him as he returns home to finish his studies at the University of the 
South in Sewanee, TN.
  This is one of those occasions when we say goodbye to a young man 
with every expectation that we will be seeing him often--and hearing 
about him too. I have the same feeling about him as I once had about a 
youngster on my staff by the name of Chip Pickering, who now represents 
the Third District of our State.
  I want to express to him publicly my appreciation for filling in the 
way he did and doing a great job.
  I also want to recognize Celeste Embrey of Southaven, MS, who has 
been one of the two receptionists in my front office who answered the 
thousands of calls that have come in, some of them not always very 
complimentary. She has done it with just charm and grace. In fact, she 
does just a great job that the President of pro tempore, the Senator 
from South Carolina, comes by to check on her several times each week 
to make sure she is doing all right. She appreciates that, and I 
appreciate that.
  Even my colleagues who do not know her by name know well her 
unfailing smile, her enthusiastic greeting, her ability to make 
everyone feel at home.
  If you have enjoyed the atmosphere of true southern hospitality in my 
office, you have Celeste to thank. But you cannot fully appreciate what 
she has done for us until you overhear her conversations with callers--
whether from Mississippi or around the country.
  She has always dealt with their questions and handled their 
complaints with a concern and patience that go well beyond the call of 
duty.
  Celeste is off to graduate school, and though there will soon be 
another person at her desk in my outer office, there will still be a 
void in our staff. I will have to get her new phone number so that any 
of us who miss the brightness of her welcome and the cheer of her voice 
can keep in close touch.
  Dan and Celeste are the kind of young people who keep up our faith in 
the rising generation. I am proud of them. I hope they will always be 
proud to have been part of the Lott team.
  I want to say to these two very fine young people, I really 
appreciate their work. I am proud of them, and I wish them Godspeed in 
whatever they do in the years to come.

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