[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 6 (Tuesday, February 1, 2000)]
[Senate]
[Page S204]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                            MORRIE THOMPSON

  Mr. MURKOWSKI. Mr. President, I rise to pay tribute to a very dear 
friend of mine who was in the Alaska Airlines plane that had the tragic 
accident yesterday afternoon off the coast of California near Los 
Angeles.
  Morrie Thompson and I go back a long way, all the way to Fairbanks, 
AK, when I first became involved in banking activities in that 
community. He was a young Native leader. The paths that we took after 
that time in the early 1970s resulted in numerous meetings and 
conversations. His temperament and sensitivity to the advancement of 
the Native people of Alaska are almost as though he came on the scene 
to be a man of his time. I speak about that in reference to the 
significant portion of our aboriginal community, our Alaskan Natives, 
people who were in a transition from a subsistence, nomadic lifestyle 
into contemporary competition for education, competition for jobs, 
competition for development.
  Morrie and his companion, Thelma, not only were good friends, but the 
contribution they made to the community of Alaska as a whole, Native 
and non-Native alike, was a powerful one. What they leave is a legacy 
that we can all share with pride and a sense of a job well done by 
Morrie and Thelma, because what they have left in the formation of the 
Alaska Native community is a structure where our Native people have an 
ownership, not only in the village corporations, but the regional 
corporations from which their traditional geographic association 
springs and their well being can be secured.
  As a consequence of that, if you look at the Native American on the 
reservation systems throughout the United States and see the comparison 
with the advancement of the settlement in Alaska, the results speak for 
themselves--due, in no small measure, to the guidance of Morrie 
Thompson.
  He and I served together when I was running a financial institution 
in Alaska. We had a large number of branches in smaller communities: 
Barrow, Tok, Nenana, Koyukuk, Nome. As president of that organization, 
I found the advice and counsel of Morrie Thompson most valuable as we 
addressed our responsibility in meeting the needs of Alaska's 
developing Native community.
  A few months ago, Morrie Thompson announced he intended to step down 
as chairman and chief executive officer of the Doyon Corporation, the 
regional Native corporation. There was a retirement party for Morrie. 
There was a great tribute paid to him by the men and women who knew 
him, loved him, and worked with him. A very substantial fund was 
established in his name for the benefit of young Native Alaskans.
  I think that area, young Native Alaskans, is where the real tribute 
to Morrie Thompson belongs because he encouraged involvement and 
education to maintain the attributes of our Native people allowing them 
to be competitive in job markets and educational opportunities.
  As a consequence of the terrible tragedy that took his life and that 
of his wife and daughter--he leaves two other daughters and he leaves 
grandchildren--he leaves a legacy for all of us to reflect on: a legacy 
of leadership, a legacy of inspiration, a legacy of genuine trust.
  He was probably one of the nicest and most decent men I have ever 
met. As we note the passing of Morrie Thompson, I say to his family and 
friends, he will be deeply missed, but his legacy and contribution will 
live in Alaska.

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