[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 142 (Wednesday, November 1, 2000)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E2051]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      IN MEMORY OF JOSEPH DONNELLY

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. JOHN P. MURTHA

                            of pennsylvania

                    in the house of representatives

                      Wednesday, November 1, 2000

  Mr. MURTHA. Mr. Speaker, it is with deep sense of personal loss but 
also enduring respect and admiration that I come before my Colleagues 
in the House of Representatives to pay tribute to the memory of Joe 
Donnelly.
  Joe Donnelly was a journalist. The long-time editor and co-publisher 
of the Indiana Gazette in Indiana, Pennsylvania, he recently passed 
away at the age of 76. However these statements of fact do not begin to 
describe or define the man or the impact his life had on his profession 
and his community. His departure leaves at once both a gaping hole and 
an enduring legacy in the region served by the newspaper he and his 
late wife Lucilla published for years under the hundred-year-old daily 
header: ``The Gazette wants to be the friend of every man, the 
promulgator of all that's right, and a welcome guest in the home.''
  That phrase could describe Joe Donnelly, the man, as well. In an age 
when national newspapers increasingly come under influences that are 
often negative and at odds with the ideals of journalistic ethics and 
objective reporting, Joe Donnelly remained a positive force not only 
through his leadership of a venerable publishing operation but through 
the examples he set every day in his community involvement. He was 
extremely well respected by his colleagues both for his ethics and his 
management style. And, acknowledged for his active involvement in 
civics and his church, he once received the Benemerenti Award from Pope 
Paul VI in person.
  It is probably no accident that the same town that produced an 
American hero like Jimmy Stewart also produced a man like Joe Donnelly, 
a Marine combat veteran of two wars. His long list of interests, awards 
and achievements indicate a tireless pillar of American values, which 
he certainly was. In his church, his town, and his family life, he set 
an example that will continue to influence the values of the 
generations who follow him. A colleague at the Gazette recalled him, 
``He came up the long way, form the bottom and really worked hard at 
it.'' The journalistic legacy of Joe Donnelly lives on in his son and 
daughters, who continue to run the Gazette even as they raise his four 
grandchildren. The broader lessons of the importance of hard work, of 
giving of oneself to church and community, and of humility, are what we 
can all take from the memory of this unique American.
  Joe, we miss you and we thank you. Goodbye, Marine.

                          ____________________