[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 20 (Thursday, February 4, 1999)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E152]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                TRIBUTE TO THE LATE MILLS E. GODWIN, JR.

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. TOM BLILEY

                              of virginia

                    in the house of representatives

                       Thursday, February 4, 1999

  Mr. BLILEY. Mr. Speaker, on February 2, 1999, Virginia buried a man 
in the loamy soil of Southeast Virginia. This was no ordinary man--his 
name was Mills E. Godwin, Jr. He will be remembered as one of the 
greatest political figures of the 20th Century in Virginia.
  Mills was born on November 19, 1914 in Chuckatuck, Virginia. Mills' 
lifelong interest in politics began at the age of 11. He later earned a 
bachelor's degree from William and Mary in 1934 and a law degree from 
the University of Virginia in 1938. While attending law school, Mills 
met Katherine Beale. They were married October 26, 1940. This beautiful 
marriage lasted for fifty-eight years until Mills passed away on 
January 30, 1999.
  At the outbreak of World War II, he worked for the Federal Bureau of 
Investigation with distinction. He began his political career in 1947 
by winning election to the Virginia House of Delegates. In 1951, Mills 
won election to the state Senate where he served for ten years until 
his election as Lieutenant Governor in 1961. In 1965, Mills became the 
Democratic nominee for Governor and was elected to the first of his two 
terms as Governor of the Commonwealth of Virginia.
  During his first term of office, Mills created the community college 
system in Virginia while using state bonds to sponsor huge increases in 
funds for public education. Under Mills Godwin's leadership, policies 
were enacted improving educational opportunities for students from 
kindergarten to graduate school while improving teacher's pay.
  Today, national leaders spend a lot of time touting their education 
programs. Yet, Mills was leading the way thirty years ago. Mills 
Godwin's vision for education in the 1960's still holds true as a model 
for the 1990's. Governor Godwin laid the cornerstone for today's 
educational system and our leaders should emulate his policies while 
remembering that a Virginian showed the way to improving education 
thirty years ago.
  He left office because he was term-limited after one term but he 
would run again for Governor in 1973 as a Republican. He won the 
election and became the only two-term Governor of Virginia this 
century. During his second term, Mills established the Department of 
Corrections, reinstated the death penalty for violent offenders while 
increasing spending on our state's education and health systems and its 
sprawling infrastructure needs.
  Mills is long remembered for revising the state Constitution and his 
lengthy term of service to the people of Virginia. However, I will 
remember him for his help to me when I was mayor of Richmond in the 
seventies and his leadership in and out of office. He unfailingly 
reached across party-lines to accomplish the greater good for all 
Virginians. After all, he remarked, there was ``no higher honor'' than 
to be Governor of Virginia.
  In Virginia, we have many statesmen and Mills is one for the 20th 
Century. When it was the right thing to do, he acted with strong 
leadership because he was not permanently bound to a rigid devotion to 
history. He knew it was imperative we learn from our past mistakes--and 
this was his attitude for success.
  He now joins his daughter Becky in heaven but he left a huge impact 
on our lives. May God Bless Mills, his wife Katherine, his sister, Leah 
Keith, and his family and friends.

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