[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 154 (Friday, December 18, 1998)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E2344]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                   TRIBUTE TO JOSEPH A. McALEER, SR.

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. SONNY CALLAHAN

                               of alabama

                    in the house of representatives

                       Friday, December 18, 1998

  Mr. CALLAHAN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to a Mobile 
legend, the late Joseph A. McAleer, Sr., who recently passed away 
following a lifetime of good deeds and noteworthy successes. With your 
permission, I would like to enter into the Congressional Record an 
editorial tribute which appeared in the Mobile Register. It is entitled 
``One man's sweetest legacy'':

       Sweet-toothed Americans from Mobile to Manhattan can thank 
     the late Joseph A. McAleer, Sr. for not giving up on his 
     dreams.
       Instead, his legacy--the Krispy Kreme doughnut--is now a 
     Southern tradition that ranks with other cultural icons such 
     as iced tea and men's seersucker suits.
       Mobile can proudly claim Krispy Kreme doughnuts as a 
     hometown original, thanks to Mr. McAleer, who died Sunday at 
     the age of 74 after battling lung cancer. His family members 
     were by his side. He was buried Tuesday. It was appropriate 
     to pay homage to him and reflect on the sweet legacy he 
     leaves.
       In 1953, Mr. McAleer opened his first Krispy Kreme doughnut 
     franchise in Prichard, after working for Krispy Kreme's 
     founder, Vernon Rudolph, in Pensacola. The first store failed 
     and three and a half years later Mr. McAleer was broke. But 
     in 1956, he changed locations, opening a store on what is now 
     Dauphin Island Parkway. In what was a sign of things to come, 
     business was so good from day one that lines snaked out of 
     the store. A tradition was born. Today, those same kinds of 
     lines are found at stores all over--particularly when Krispy 
     Kremes are hot off the conveyer belt that moves them along as 
     they are frosted and prepared for customers. Nowhere are 
     Krispy Kremes more prominent than in the chic Chelsea area of 
     Manhattan, the home of some of America's most rich and famous 
     doughnut lovers. New York Yankees owner Georges Steinbrenner 
     is a customer. So is actress Lauren Bacall and the flamboyant 
     talk-show host known as RuPaul.
       Mr. McAleer led a group of franchise owners to buy Krispy 
     Kreme from Beatrice Food Co. in 1982, and in the late 1980s 
     the business began an aggressive expansion and remodeling 
     program that transformed it from a regional icon to an 
     emerging national chain. His sons now operate the company 
     from corporate headquarters in Winston Salem, North Carolina, 
     although Krispy Kreme remains an intractable part of Mobile's 
     culture.
       Indeed it's said that when mourners visited the funeral 
     home this week to pay their respects, they were served--what 
     else?--Krispy Kreme doughnuts. Stories like this will only 
     enhance Mr. McAleer's sweet legacy for years to come.

     

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