[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 159 (Thursday, November 11, 1999)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E2381-E2382]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




       IN HONOR OF THE 75TH BIRTHDAY OF JUDGE J. JEROME PLUNKETT

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. CHRISTOPHER COX

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                      Wednesday, November 10, 1999

  Mr. COX. Mr. Speaker, I rise in honor of a great man who has achieved 
a great milestone: the Honorable J. Jerome Plunkett, who will celebrate 
his 75th birthday tomorrow, November 11.
  A distinguished jurist, a decorated soldier, a patron of education, 
and a devoted husband and father of eight children, Judge Plunkett has 
throughout his life been a leader for his nation, his state, his 
community, and his family.
  Born in St. Paul, Minnesota, one of five children of James P. and 
Anne Plunkett, the young boy's early experiences helped shape his 
extraordinary life. For his eighth birthday he traveled to Washington, 
D.C.--by train, for James P. was the Solicitor General for the Great 
Northern Railroad--to watch his father argue a case before the nine 
Justices of the United States Supreme Court. Barely beginning third 
grade, Jerry Plunkett could not have known then that a quarter century 
later he would begin his own career as a judge. But without doubt that 
lasting memory was one of several influences that propelled him to the 
law and the bench.
  That autumn Washington day in 1932, as every one of Jerry Plunkett's 
75 birthdays, was Armistice Day. On the first Armistice Day, November 
11, 1918, Americans had celebrated the end of World War I, which 
officially concluded when the armistice was signed on the 11th hour of 
the 11th day of the 11th month. But the ``war to end all wars'' had 
done no such thing. Just months after graduating from St. Thomas 
Military Academy in St. Paul, Jerry--then 18 years old--entered the 
United States Army, as the storm clouds of World War II cast their dark 
shadow on America.
  He enrolled in the Infantry Officers Candidate School at Fort 
Benning, Georgia, and rapidly rose through the ranks. By 1944, he was a 
First Lieutenant with the Second Infantry Division, destined to 
participate in the Allied invasion of France to liberate Europe.
  Lt. Plunkett, the infantryman, was wounded during the monumental 
struggle with Nazi forces at Normandy, code-named ``Operation 
Overlord,'' and commanded by General Dwight D. Eisenhower. He would 
later be decorated not only with a Purple Heart but the Bronze Star, 
but in June 1944 he continued to punch inland, securing safe landing 
zones for reinforcements, and waged the campaign through France and 
into Germany. The German failure to successfully defend the Normandy 
area from the Allied liberation forces in essence doomed Hitler's dream 
of ``Fortress Europe,'' and marked the beginning of the end for the 
Nazis.
  While Jerry survived the war, one of his two brothers, James F. 
Plunkett, did not. He was killed in action in France in 1944.
  With victory came peace, and Jerry Plunkett returned home like so 
many other veterans to start a new life, and begin a career. He chose 
the law.
  When he earned his Juris Doctor degree from the University of 
Minnesota, he went to work as a legal editor for the West Publishing 
Company, even then a long-established firm (founded in 1876) and the 
leading national provider of case law and statutes for all U.S. 
jurisdictions. His interest in the law was matched, however, by his 
interest in people and solving real-world problems, and barely two 
years later he had landed his first job in public policy, as the 
Assistant City Attorney for the City of St. Paul.
  As barrister for the state capital, Jerry Plunkett earned experience 
in prosecuting criminals and managing civil cases in the courtroom. By 
1954, he was presiding over those same cases as the Honorable Jerome 
Plunkett, appointed by the Municipal Court bench by then-Minnesota 
Governor C. Elmer Anderson.
  His progress and accomplishments on the bench were as swift and 
commendable as they had been on the battlefield. He was made Chief 
Administrator of the court system.

[[Page E2382]]

In 1956, he was elected by his fellow judges as President of the 
Municipal Judges Association for the entire state. And while serving on 
the municipal court bench, Judge Plunkett completed the first 
recodification since 1875 of all of the laws governing the municipal 
and conciliation courts in the state of Minnesota. His recodification 
was enacted by the state legislature in 1961, exactly as he wrote it.
  A decade later, another Minnesota governor elevated Judge Plunkett to 
the District Court. On July 1, 1967, Governor Harold LeVander made 
possible what would become a 25-year career serving the people of 
Minnesota. During his remarkable tenure, Judge Plunkett personally set 
up and organized the Family Court Division of the Ramsey County 
District Court; he spent three years recasting all of the jury 
instructions in use in the state's civil courts; he worked for five 
years to rewrite all of the pension and retirement laws for judges in 
the state of Minnesota; he served on the Public Defender's Board, which 
supervises the entire public defender operation in Ramsey County; and 
he was elected by his fellow judges as an officer of the state-wide 
Minnesota Judges Association, serving as its Treasurer.
  As an experienced District Court judge, Jerry Plunkett was appointed 
in 1977 to sit as a temporary member of the Minnesota Supreme Court, 
where he heard over 30 cases and authored seven Supreme Court opinions. 
Among the matters before Judge Plunkett was the historic Reserve Mining 
Company case, arising out of claims that the firm's iron-ore processing 
plant at Silver Bay, Minnesota had disposed of its ore wastes in a way 
that discharged asbestos particles into the air and into Lake Superior.
  Despite these enormously time-consuming professional achievements, 
family has always been Jerry Plunkett's first priority. Throughout his 
adult life, he has been devoted to--and guided by--his wife, the former 
Patricia Bonner. They have raised eight children, all of them 
impressive in their own rights: John, a forensic pathologist; Patrick, 
an attorney; Marnie, a computer engineer; Timothy, an insurance 
executive; Paul, an attorney; Michael, a radiologist; Ann, a business 
executive; and Peggy, a graphic designer. Imbued with their parents' 
sense of community and led by the example of their parents' lives, this 
generation of Plunketts stands as a living testament to the values that 
each of us in Congress is proud to call American.
  Jerry Plunkett's love of his country, his leadership as a jurist for 
his state, and his dedication to his wife and his family have always 
been matched by a high level of involvement in the local community. He 
served as Chairman of the Ramsey County Law Library. He was Director of 
the Capital Community Center. He has been a Trustee of St. Thomas 
Academy, and the President of the school's Alumni Association. He has 
given of himself, his time, and his energies without limit, and all of 
us owe him an enormous debt of gratitude for his service and his 
outstanding example.
  To mark the occasion of Judge Jerry Plunkett's 75th birthday, his 
family and his friends will gather with him in St. Paul in celebration. 
What better way to repay his many kindnesses to our country, if only in 
part, than by giving him this tribute? I know that all of my colleagues 
join with me in wishing a happy birthday, and many more to come, to a 
great American.

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