[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 111 (Tuesday, September 19, 2000)]
[House]
[Page H7843]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        TRIBUTE TO GILBERT WOLF

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Strickland) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. STRICKLAND. Madam Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to a good 
friend and a great American, Mr. Gilbert Wolf. On April 1 of this year, 
Gilbert Wolf retired as Director of the National Plastering Industry's 
Joint Apprenticeship Trust Fund and Administrator of the Plasterers and 
Cement Masons Job Corps Training Program. After 49 years in the 
industry, Mr. Wolf has left a legacy of superior skills training 
directed toward young people entering the construction trades.
  A plasterer by trade, Mr. Wolf began his own career as an apprentice 
and went on to become a journeyman and then apprentice instructor. In 
1969, he was instrumental in securing a contract with the Department of 
the Interior to train economically disadvantaged youth to become 
plasterers and cement masons. After a successful operation in three Job 
Corps centers, Mr. Wolf was awarded additional contracts with the 
Department of the Interior and labor. The Plasterers and Cement Masons 
Job Corps Training Program, under Gilbert Wolf's guidance, now boasts 
participation in 41 centers throughout the United States.
  Training and motivating youth in careers in the construction industry 
has been Mr. Wolf's major focus for over four decades. He spearheaded 
several national events to bring the need for youth training to the 
forefront. Competition was one of his favorite themes. The result was 
three international apprenticeship competitions over a 5-year period; 
two Job Corps national competitions and countless skills demonstrations 
at trade shows and construction industry events throughout the United 
States. These events consistently showed the public the need for and 
the importance of solid skills training.
  The Smithsonian Institute's famous Festival of Life became the 
setting for another national skills demonstration by Job Corps students 
from around the country. Mr. Wolf led the committees who organized the 
2-week long festivals and won a spot on Good Morning America.
  Mr. Wolf also coauthored papers on historical preservation and 
restoration with the Department of the Interior and the National Trust 
for Historical Preservation. A partnership with the NTHP brought 
opportunities for Job Corps students to learn and to work on important 
historical landmarks and to develop specialized skills.
  Mr. Wolf also coauthored the Incentive Apprenticeship Training 
Course, which guides instructors through the process of training a 
number of people at multiple levels.
  Gilbert Wolf is also credited with pushing hard to increase the 
number of women and other minorities into skills training and the 
construction industry. He was the first in the Job Corps to hire a 
woman as an instructor in a nontraditional trade.
  When asked what has kept him going in this industry for the last 49 
years, Mr. Wolf responded, where are the future skilled crafts people 
coming from, and who will train them? Passing a legacy of knowledge 
from one generation to the next is the backbone of our building 
industry. Young people are our only chance to keep building a strong 
America.
  Madam Speaker, in closing, I want to express my own personal deep 
appreciation for the fact that Gilbert Wolf has been a mentor to my 
brother Roger and a valued friend to me. This Nation would be stronger 
and we would all be better people if more of us were more like Gil 
Wolf. I wish him a long, healthy, and happy retirement.

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