[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 67 (Friday, May 22, 1998)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E955-E956]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    TRIBUTE TO HUGH AND MARY HIGLEY

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. BART STUPAK

                              of michigan

                    in the house of representatives

                          Friday, May 22, 1998

  Mr. STUPAK. Mr. Speaker, it gives me great honor today to call the 
nation's attention to a married couple, Hugh and Mary Higley, who live 
in my home town of Menominee, Michigan, and whose commitment to family 
and to community has earned them love, respect, admiration, and now, 
special recognition by their city.
  Hugh, the eldest of the five children of Harvey and Alice Clifford 
Higley, was born in Detroit on March 18, 1918. In 1920 the Higley 
family moved to Menominee's twin city, Marinette, Wisconsin, where 
Hugh's father joined a local company new to the refrigeration business, 
the American Sulfur Company, known later by the more familiar name 
Ansul.
  Mary, the second of the three children of Dr. William and Edith 
Jackman Jones, was born in Clifton, Arizona, on January 7, 1920. Two 
years later the Jones family moved to Menominee, where Mary's father 
opened an ``ear, eyes, nose and throat'' practice.
  Hugh played basketball and golf at Marinette High School and in his 
senior year was editor of the school annual. He attended the University 
of Wisconsin, graduating with bachelor's degree in chemical 
engineering. He joined Ansul as a salesman. Mary graduated from 
Menominee High School in 1938 and attended the University of Arizona.
  Hugh and Mary were married on June 21, 1941. World War II saw Hugh in 
service to his country, first as a civilian working for the Army's 
Ordinance Department in Milwaukee, and later as a Navy lieutenant in 
Florida and California, finally working in China Lake, a small desert 
community associated with aviation ordinance testing.
  After the war Hugh and Mary returned to Menominee, where Hugh resumed 
his Ansul career. Here they would raise three sons, David, Hugh Jr. and 
William. Here Hugh would rise from salesman in Ansul's Chemical 
Division to Director of Corporate Customer Relations, Corporate 
Secretary, Vice President and General Manager of the Fire Equipment 
Division, and then to President of Ansul International. He retired from 
Ansul in January 1969.
  In October 1969 Hugh and Mary purchased Interstate Welding Sales 
Corporation, which at the time had 17 employees, two locations and 
sales of less than $1 million. Hugh was eventually joined by his three 
sons in this new venture and new career, but continued to manage the 
day-to-day activities of the company through March 1988. Interstate now 
has facilities in eight northeastern Wisconsin and Upper Michigan 
cities, more than 200 employees and sales of nearly $50 million.
  Through all these endeavors the couple always found time to give to 
their community. Let me list, Mr. Speaker, some of Hugh's areas of 
service: the Menominee Public School Board, the Menominee County Board 
of Commissioners and the board of the local DAR Boys & Girls Club. He 
was president of both the Menominee and Marinette chambers of commerce 
and he was an Elder, Trustee and Deacon of the First Presbyterian 
Church

[[Page E956]]

of Menominee. Among his other activities, Hugh was active with the 
Republican party, and was on the local harbor commission, the 
industrial park commission, the hospital board and the board of the 
First National Bank of Marinette.
  Mary, while raising three boys, has served as an Elder, Deacon and 
president of the Women's Association of the First Presbyterian Church. 
Among other volunteer efforts, she was president of the local hospital 
auxiliary, a director of the local DAR youth club, and a member of the 
city's Cemetery Board.
  A man like Hugh Higley with a wife like Mary could have been a 
success anywhere in the world. Even after Hugh's retirement from Ansul, 
he could have seized a business opportunity wherever he found one, but 
he chose to remain in the area and make his new venture, Interstate/
Valweld, one of the region's great success stories.
  Like their father, his sons Dave, Hugh and Bill could have taken 
their business acumen and their technical acumen and established 
themselves successfully anywhere, but those special traits they learned 
from their parents--the importance of family and the value of forging 
lasting ties to their hometown--have drawn them back.
  Thus the town is blessed with another generation of Higley's, who are 
creating their own legacies of service to the community. There are no 
greater gifts a family give to its home town than wisdom, foresight, 
and quality business practices in its professional endeavors, and a 
lifetime of dedication and volunteerism to pubic service in its private 
efforts.
  This is the heritage of this remarkable couple, Hugh and Mary Higley.
  Mr. Speaker, the local community will seek to recognize these 
priceless gifts. May 29, 1998, has been proclaimed Mary and Hugh Higley 
Day in the city of Menominee. I invite my colleagues to join me, adding 
our voices in humble thanks for a lifetime of service.

                          ____________________