[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 107 (Tuesday, July 27, 1999)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1660]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                  HAPPY RETIREMENT TO PATRICK KEOHANE

                                 ______
                                 

                             HON. ROY BLUNT

                              of missouri

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, July 27, 1999

  Mr. BLUNT. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to note the passing of an era in 
the Federal Bureau of Prisons. Mr. Patrick Keohane will retire August 
31 as warden of the Federal Medical Center in Springfield, Missouri. 
That will mark the end a period of over 30 years in which Warden 
Keohane or one of his two brothers has been a warden somewhere at a 
federal prison in the United States. It is reportedly the longest 
period of similar service of any family in federal prison history.
  The Keohane family association with the federal prison system goes 
back even further to Patrick's father Tom who retired as a senior 
lieutenant after 31 years of service with the Bureau of Prisons. Tom 
and his wife Nora raised ten children--six boys and four girls--in 
Springfield, Missouri. Pat and four of his five brothers served in the 
military.
  It is only fitting that Pat is retiring while warden of the Federal 
Medical Center in Springfield, because it was in Springfield that he 
began his civilian career in criminal justice as a member of the 
Springfield Police Department in 1964. It was only 2 years after 
beginning work for the Federal Prison System in 1967 as a correctional 
officer that he was transferred to the Springfield facility in 1969. 
While there, he completed his degree in law enforcement and corrections 
in 1974 at Drury College.
  Pat Keohane has served with distinction in federal prison facilities 
in Indiana, Wisconsin, Florida, Pennsylvania, New York, Kansas, and 
Illinois. He was promoted to warden in 1985 and since then has led 
facilities in Pennsylvania, Indiana, and California, returning to 
Springfield, Missouri in 1996.
  As I mentioned earlier, service for the Keohanes in the Federal 
Prison System is a family thing. Two of his older brothers each retired 
with 27 years of service. In fact, they are the only family in the 
Nation in which three brothers served as wardens in the Federal Bureau 
of Prisons, and the only one where two brothers, both served as wardens 
of the same Federal institution at different times--and they 
accomplished that on two separate accessions.
  Besides his family distinctions, Pat Keohane, has received numerous 
honors and recognitions, including the 1994 Warden of the Year award 
from the North American Association of Wardens and Superintendents and 
the U.S. Attorney General's Award for Distinguished Service from 
Attorney General Janet Reno.
  He is being honored later this week at dinner in his hometown in the 
Seventh District of Missouri. I know that my colleagues in the House 
join with me in expressing their appreciation for a lifetime of 
outstanding service to the citizens of these great United States and 
best wishes for a very happy future to Warden Patrick W. Keohane of 
Springfield, Missouri.

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