[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 139 (Wednesday, October 7, 1998)]
[Senate]
[Pages S11797-S11799]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
ADDITIONAL STATEMENTS
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TRIBUTE TO KIMBEL E. OELKE
Mr. SARBANES. Mr. President, I rise today to honor the memory
of Kimbel E. Oelke, publisher of the Dundalk Eagle--a homespun and
pioneering publication committed to covering the local news stories
that directly affect the daily lives of the citizens of the greater
Dundalk area. Once sold for 10 cents to 500 subscribers and written
entirely by Mr. Oelke at its founding in 1969, the Dundalk Eagle is now
circulated to 24,000 people by a staff of twenty.
Oelke's commitment to the community extended beyond his distribution
of the newspaper to include his participation in the creation of the
Dundalk Library, the Dundalk Chamber of Commerce, the Dundalk
Association of Businesses and the Greater Dundalk Sports Hall of Fame.
From the age of seven when he first moved to Baltimore, Oelke had
journalistic ambitions. I think all would agree that the realization of
his dream has not only enriched the lives of thousands of his readers,
but conveyed a sense of community too often missing in our modern era.
Kimbel Oelke's commitment to community journalism will leave a legacy
of service for future generations both in and out of Dundalk.
I extend my most sincere sympathies to his wife Mary, their three
sons and seven daughters, and to all the family and friends of Kimbel
Oelke. Mr. President, I ask that two articles celebrating Kimbel
Oelke's life be printed in the Record.
The articles follow:
[From the Sun, Aug. 4, 1998]
Kimbel E. Oelke, 80, Longtime Publisher of Dundalk Eagle and Community
Booster
(By Fred Rasmussen)
Kimbel E. Oelke, publisher of the Dundalk Eagle, died
Sunday of a heart attack while attending Mass at St. Rita
Roman Catholic Church in Dundalk. He was 80.
Mr. Oelke, a well-known figure in eastern Baltimore County,
was a seasoned newspaper reporter and editor when the
unthinkable happened one day.
He woke up one morning and noticed his name missing from
the mastheads of Dundalk's Community Press and the Eastern
Beacon, where he had worked for 31 years.
He had complained when the newspapers began expanding and
turning away from local news coverage, and the owner,
Stromberg Publications, demoted him to advertising manager of
the Essex Times, another of the chain's newspapers.
Disgruntled, he quit. He was in his early 50s and had a
wife and 11 children to support.
He and his wife took a gamble. They took their savings and
started their own newspaper.
The Dundalk Eagle, a tabloid, arrived on May 15, 1969. Its
slogan was ``Of The People, By The People, For The People.''
In a front-page editorial, Mr. Oelke wrote, ``I am firmly
convinced that there is a need for a paper in the greater
Dundalk area continually cognizant of the needs and desires
of the people and the local businesses.''
The paper sold for 10 cents a copy and subscriptions were
$1 a year. It has grown from 500 subscribers to a paid
circulation of 24,000 and a staff of 20.
For many years, Mr. Oelke wrote most of the newspaper copy
and was a familiar figure in courtrooms, police stations and
firehouses. Tipsters kept his phones ringing.
The paper was homespun and covered Dundalk and its environs
in great detail. Mr. Oelke's appetite for Dundalk minutiae
was insatiable.
One of the Mr. Oelke's space-saving tricks, which gave his
newspaper a particularly distinguishing if not unusual look,
was his use of ampersands--``&''--instead of the word ``and''
in copy.
``The Eagle is more family-like than at most places,'' said
Wayne Laufert, who was hired as a reporter in 1986 and was
named editor in 1996.
``That's due to the personalities of Mr. and Mrs. O. Most
of us think of them as grandparents. They treated a group of
20 or more people to Christmas dinner every year and hosted
summer parties where we ate crabs and played softball.''
Mr. Laufert described Mr. Oelke as ``a very warm person''
who had ``difficulty saying `no' to people. He was very
accommodating and it was one of his most endearing
qualities.''
Deborah I. Cornely of Dundalk, a daughter and the paper's
managing editor, said, ``He was the kind of man who was very
humble. He never bragged about his accomplishments, but most
of all tried to give everyone an even break.''
Deeply involved in the community, Mr. Oelke led the efforts
to establish the Dundalk Library, the Dundalk Chamber of
Commerce, the Dundalk Association of Businesses and the
Greater Dundalk Sports Hall of Fame.
Mr. Oelke, a soft-spoken man who had a penchant for green
eyeshades and big King Edward cigars, was born in Louisville,
Ky. When he was seven, his family moved to Dundalk, when his
father was transferred there by American Standard, the maker
of plumbing fixtures.
The 1935 graduate of Sparrows Point High School once
dreamed of becoming a major-league baseball player, but his
hitting failed him. In 1938, he became sports editor of the
Community Press.
``When I was in high school, I had two ambitions: To be a
baseball player and to be a newsman,'' he told the Dundalk
Eagle on the newspaper's 25th anniversary.
After serving with the Navy in the Pacific during World War
II, he returned to the Press and was promoted to editor.
Studying at night, he earned a law degree from the
University of Baltimore Law School.
Services will be held at 8:30 p.m. today at the Duda-Ruck
Funeral Home of Dundalk, 7922 Wise Ave.
He is survived by his wife, the former Mary Georgina
Jarboe, whom he married in 1946; three sons, Timothy Oelke of
New Freedom, Pa., James A. Oelke of Corpus Christi and Andrew
P. Oelke of Seattle; seven other daughters, Kim E. Boone of
Dundalk, Barbara E. Oelke of Monkton, Elizabeth A. Oelke of
Fawn Grove, Pa., Mary Jane Oelke of White Marsh, Suzanne C.
Oelke of Seattle, Amy K. Christensen of Upperco and Kerry A.
Raszewski of Monkton; a sister, Virginia Becker of Dundalk;
16 grandchildren; and four great-grandchildren.
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[From the Dundalk Eagle, Aug. 13, 1998]
Family, Friends Bid Last Goodbye to Kimbel Oelke
(By Terri Narrell Mause)
The St. Rita Catholic Church parish priest explained that
God has a purpose for each person's life, and praised Kimbel
Oelke for fulfilling what he was ``called to do.''
But it was three of Oelke's daughters who painted the most
vivid picture of the newspaper publisher during the Mass of
Christian burial for their father Aug. 5. The Mass was led by
the Rev. William Remmel of St. Rita's, assisted by the Rev.
Joseph Cornely, who works with Trinity Missions in
California, and Deacon Albert Chesnavage.
Oelke, the founder and publisher of The Dundalk Eagle, died
Aug. 2 while attending St. Rita's with his wife. He was 80
years old.
In emotional and eloquent testimonials, the three women
recalled their father as a man devoted to his family and
dedicated to bringing out the best in others.
Deborah Cornely, Oelke's second daughter and managing
editor of The Eagle, told the story of how her father taught
her to ride a bike.
Oelke transformed the bicycle into a simulated airplane,
complete with painted wings and a tail, finishing it the
evening before the then-4-year-old was to ride it in
Dundalk's 4th of July parade.
``The only problem was that I'd never ridden a two-wheeler
before,'' Cornely said in her eulogy.
So on that evening, her father removed the training wheels
from the bike, steadied it as she climbed aboard and assured
her she could do it.
After she had ridden some distance, confident her father
was still holding on, she looked back to see him, ``standing
all smiles & applause, way back at my point of departure.''
[[Page S11798]]
``He'd sent me off alone, and through his encouragement,
his insistence that I was up to the task, I'd accomplished
something on my own that I didn't think I could do,'' Cornely
said. ``That was one of the first of many cherished memories
I have of my father helping me overcome my fears & succeed in
life.''
The next day, the newly trained bicyclist collected a blue
ribbon for the bicycle division from then-Gov. Theodore
McKeldin.
Elizabeth Oelke, her parents' fifth child, next recited the
publisher's favorite poem, William Henley's Invictus, as she
remembered her father as a journalistic poet, an ``adman''
who appreciated the power and beauty of language.
The poem was one Oelke knew by heart and recited with
``precision, gusto and conviction,'' applying it to his own
life and encouraging his family to do the same, Elizabeth
Oelke told the mourners at St. Rita's.
``I am the master of my fate, I am the captain of my
soul,'' she said, reciting the final lines of the poem. ``And
if that was the only think my father had given me, that would
have been enough. But he gave us so much more.''
In a final family tribute, Amy Oelke, the ninth of her
parents' 11 children, remembered how her father fostered
independence and self-confidence in his children with
encouragement and praise. She specifically recalled his use
of the word ``best.''
``Every Thanksgiving, we had the best turkey we'd ever
had,'' she said. ``Mom was the best woman in the world. And
he always made us all feel like the best. But he never acted
like he or his family was better than anyone else.
``I was blessed--and we all were--with the best father.''
final farewells
After the service, family members and friends joined a
procession down Merritt Boulevard to Sacred Heart of Jesus
Cemetery of German Hill Road.
Under a sunny, clear sky with a soft breeze accompanying
the priest's brief words of comfort, several of Oelke's
friends took one last opportunity to remember the man.
Some remembered his love of golf.
``He'll be playing that big golf course in heaven,'' said
former Baltimore County councilman Don Mason of Eastwood.
Oelke's son-in-law Donald Cornely (a nephew of the priest
who assisted in the service) pulled from his pocket a handful
of orange golf tees imprinted with ``The Dundalk Eagle,
Published Weekly, Read Daily,'' and told about golfing with
the publisher.
``The first time he took me golfing--he was a very patient
man, because I'm not very good at the game--he handed me a
couple of these,'' Cornely recalled. ``After teeing off the
first time, I started to pick up the tee, but he wouldn't let
me. He told me to leave it there, and he took some more from
his pocket, leaving them across the course as we walked.
``He knew other golfers would pick up the tees to use
themselves, and The Eagle would get publicity. He did that
wherever we played--New York, Pennsylvania and other states--
no matter how far away we were from Dundalk.''
Oelke was buried in his golf shoes with his favorite putter
lying along-side him.
Others attending the graveside service recalled his
contributions to the community and his passion for community
news.
Kenneth C. Coldwell Sr., publisher of the Avenue
newspapers, said Oelke encouraged and helped him when he
first entered the newspaper business 25 years ago.
``He was a great guy and a great friend,'' Coldwell said at
the graveside service Aug. 5. ``Community newspapers
throughout the world should take a chapter from him, because
he knew how to run a community newspaper.
``He would look you in the eye, shake your hand with a firm
handshake and say, `Good luck.' That's how I want to remember
him.''
Mason first met Oelke when he organized a group that tried
to pinpoint and expose excessive government spending. Oelke,
Mason says, always supported the group by printing its
findings in The Eagle.
``I recognize--and I'm sure a lot of people will
recognize--that an institution has passed on,'' Mason said.
``I'm sure when St. Peter meets and interviews Mr. Oelke,
he'll appoint him editor-in-chief of heaven's weekly.''
working for oelke meant covering police beat, painting office
The following was written by Gaitherburg resident Stuart
Gorin, who got his start in newspapers as a 14-year-old hired
by Kilmel Oelke, the Eagle founder who died Aug. 2.
As a writer with the U.S. Information Agency focusing on
aspects of U.S. foreign policy, I am a long way from Dundalk,
Md., where many years ago Kimbel Oelke gave me my start in
journalism.
He was a customer in my late father's store, the old
Stansbury Food Center, where I was a 14-year-old reluctantly
helping out while dreaming of becoming a newspaper reporter.
Scoop--he was always Scoop to me, never Mr. Oelke--nearly
bowled me over when, after murmured conversations with my
parents, he offered me a summer job as a cub reporter for The
Community Press and Baltimore Countian in 1953 for the
princely sum of $6 a week.
Scoop took me under his wing and taught me how to be a
reporter: how to write in newspaper style, how to ask
questions, how to be fair. When a citizen has a complaint
against the city council, write it, he said, but be sure to
get the council's side in the story, too.
It wasn't always easy, but it sure was exciting. When he
gave me my first byline, on a story about the family of a
little boy in a coma, I felt on top of the world.
Part of my job, Scoop said, was to cover the police beat.
We went to the police station, where he introduced me to the
desk sergeant. Every day I would gather material from the
police blotter for stories, and I thought I was becoming a
seasoned professional. But the next week, a new officer
was on the desk, and when I explained my mission he
brushed me aside and told me to go home to my mother.
Crushed, I trudged back to the office and informed Scoop,
who roared with laughter and then took me back to the
station and smilingly declared that yes, I really was his
reporter and needed to see the blotter.
But that embarrassment was nothing compared to what Scoop
put me through for an interview with the winner of a local
beauty pageant. Get all of the details, and don't forget her
measurements, he admonished. Back in the 1950s, this was
considered routine, but not for a red-faced 14-year-old who
had to approach a ``grownup'' 18-year-old. What I finally
decided to do was type out a list of questions for her,
asking her the vital statistics in the middle of the list. I
rang her doorbell, identified myself as a reporter for the
Community Press, handed her the list, and asked her to please
fill it out. When I admitted to Scoop how I obtained the
information, he again roared with laughter.
One time he didn't laugh. He needed the newspaper office
painted, and I said I could do it on a Saturday morning. Of
course I knew how, I said. I had completed half of the
ceiling in blotchy streaks with drops on the floor and the
desks when he came in, shook his head, took the paintbrush
out of my hand and sat me down in front of a typewriter
instead, saying this was where I belonged. A professional
painter finished the job right, and I haven't held a
paintbrush in my hand since.
Early on, Scoop showed me one of the benefits of being a
reporter. It was the first year that the Baltimore Orioles
were in the major leagues, and we went to a couple of games
using our press passes.
During my high school year between the two summers I worked
for Scoop, I attended Saturday matinees at the old Hilltop
Theater in Baltimore, where big-name stars came weekly for
live productions. Each week I would interview the star and
write a column on the theater's activities that Scoop ran in
The Community Press.
Then, after I finished college and was drafted, the Army
sent me back to Dundalk to Fort Holabird in 1962. When I
stopped in to say hello, Scoop told me that his night court
reporter had just left, and if I wanted the job for old
time's sake it was mine. So while I was a soldier, every
Monday night I would cover the court session and leave my
stories in the office for him to pick up the next day.
There were occasional phone calls after that assignment,
but years passed before I saw Scoop again. Helen Delich
Bentley was still in Congress and running for re-election in
1986, and I came to Dundalk during one of her campaign stops
to write an article. I got together with Scoop for lunch and
we had a wonderful afternoon reminiscing. Regrettably, that
was the last time I saw him.
Besides writing for USIA, I've worked for newspapers and
wire services not only in the United States but also in
Europe and Asia. It's been a satisfying career that all
started with the Dundalk Community Press. Thanks, Scoop. I'm
going to miss you.
letter writers recall founder of ``eagle''
Condolences sent to The Eagle upon the death of the paper's
founder, Kimbel Oelke, included the following letters:
Kimbel Oelke contributed more to our community than most of
us know. His tenacity and vision gave Dundalk a weekly
reminder of who we are as individuals and as a community. His
paper is our family album. His legacy is our deep sense of
community. His life is our measure of what it means to be a
good man.
Kimbel, I am certain you are reading this from heaven. You
left an undeniable and meaningful mark on Dundalk and on so
many of us who had the fortune of knowing you.--Michael
Galiazzo, Rainflower Path, Sparks, Md.
We at Sparrows Point send our deepest sympathy to all of
you upon the death of Mr. Oelke. He was a universal citizen,
a true friend of businesses and the community.
We recall his unconditional support of Bethlehem Steel and
his wholehearted, selfless help in a grassroots campaign
against steel imports. His help was crucially needed at a
critical time in our history, and he came through with flying
colors.
There were many other times when his advice, counsel and
friendship were sought, and he was there for us, as he was
for everyone in the community. He will be missed by all whose
lives he touched.--The letter was signed by Sparrows Point
Division president Duane R. Dunham and 15 other company
officials.
As always, Baltimore Sun reporter Fred Rasmussen had
outdone himself in his magnificent obituary of a truly great
man, the late Kimbel E. Oelke of Dundalk, founder and
publisher of The Eagle.
That having been said, nevertheless, Mr. Rasmussen
overlooked or did not know some
[[Page S11799]]
remarkable events about this man's epic saga of life which I
was present to witness by virtue of my relation to both him
and his community.
I first me him in 1974 while handling public relations for
Patrick T. Welsh's House of Delegates campaign and later, in
1978, for the same man's state Senate campaign. Today, Mr.
Welsh is President of The Eastern Baltimore Area Chamber of
Commerce. None of his successes would have happened without
the fair coverage of Mr. Oelke and The Eagle--and the same is
true of every other candidate for public office from that
time to this.
In 1984, when I worked at Dundalk Community College and the
entire collegiate community harnessed its abilities and
energies to re-employ area residents, Mr. Oelke was there as
well, and when I had occasion to run for the office of
Congress of the United States in 1982, 1984 and 1988, I got a
fair hearing from him each and every time.
Thus, he was, is and remains my ideal of what a newspaper
publisher should be: fair, faithful and true. I am not
surprised that he died in church in the arms of the Lord and
the family that loved him. I, too, shall miss him.--Blaine
Taylor, Joppa Road, Towson.
Please accept our most sincere wishes regarding Mr. Oelke's
death. Hopefully his family, friends, and the staff at The
Eagle are doing well.
I am new to the Baltimore area, so I obviously have no
previous knowledge of Mr. Oelke and the paper. However, your
staff should know that his story and the related story of the
newspaper is a great one. He sounds like he was a good person
with his head and heart in the right place. It is great when
the good guys win!
Anyway, just know that I was personally moved by learning
about Mr. Oelke's life. I will look to learn more in upcoming
issues of your paper. Keep up the (his) great work over there
at The Eagle.--Paul Kin, The writer is a community relations
director representing Bradley-Ashton-Dabrowski-Matthews
Funeral Homes.
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