[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 159 (Thursday, November 11, 1999)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E2365-E2366]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    HONORING FRANCES COLBERT TERRELL

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. JOHN CONYERS, JR.

                              of michigan

                    in the house of representatives

                      Wednesday, November 10, 1999

  Mr. CONYERS. Mr. Speaker, I would like to take this opportunity to 
congratulate a former employee of mine. Frances Colbert Terrell retired 
from the Federal Government on January 2, 1999, after 30 years of 
faithful and loyal service to the Legislative and Executive branches of 
government. Twenty-three of those years were spent right here in these 
``Hallowed Halls of Congress.''
  Fran, an alumnus of Hampton University, where she majored in business 
education, joined me in January 1989 when I became Chairman of the 
Government Operations Committee. Having begun her career on Capitol 
Hill in January 1972 as staff assistant to the Government Operations 
Committee, then chaired by the late Honorable Chet Holifield, Fran had 
come full circle and brought to my staff a wealth of administrative, 
management, and policy expertise on how to get things done in a 
Congressional Committee. Prior to joining me, Fran worked on the Small 
Business Committee under the chairmanship of former Rep. Parren J. 
Mitchell (D-MD) and the Banking and Finance Committee with former Rep. 
Henry S. Reuss (D-Wis) as chairman. She played a large part with my 
investigative staff in putting together its hearings, legislation and 
report for my 1994 Procurement Reform Legislation which streamlined the 
Government's $200 billion per-year acquisition system and allows ``off-
the-shelf'' commercial purchases whenever possible after my 
investigation had revealed major abuses in military procurement.
  Fran, a native Alexandrian, came to the Hill at a critical and 
interesting time for African Americans. The country was still reeling 
from the assassinations of President Kennedy, Bobby Kennedy, Malcolm X, 
Martin Luther King, Jr., the March on Washington and the Poor Peoples' 
Campaign March. Major civil rights legislation had just been passed and 
an historic influx of Afro Americans had, for the first time, been 
elected to the House of Representatives. Fran says, ``I still remember 
the awe and pride I felt working for Congress. There were few African 
American staffers in 1972, and I was sure my tenure wouldn't last any 
longer than 4 years at the most. You can imagine my own surprise at 
lasting for 23 years. Why, that's 11 terms!'' Fran left the Hill for 
the Department of Agriculture in 1995 when the Republicans gained 
control of the House. However, she couldn't avoid politics. She ended 
her career with a former colleague

[[Page E2366]]

from Indiana, the Honorable Jill Long Thompson, Under Secretary of 
Agriculture in the Clinton Administration.
  Fran says her plans now are to rest, relax and travel. She and her 
husband, Calvin, have already traveled to France, England, Greece and 
Italy. Her next adventure will be a cross country journey through the 
USA. I wish you the very best in your retirement and in whatever the 
future holds for you and your family.

                          ____________________