[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 20 (Tuesday, February 13, 2001)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E163-E164]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




              A TRIBUTE TO THE LATE MR. THOMAS J. DEMPSEY

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. JOHN T. DOOLITTLE

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, February 13, 2001

  Mr. DOOLITTLE. Mr. Speaker, today I wish to remember and honor one of 
the founders of the community of Mammoth Lakes, in my district in 
California, Mr. Thomas J. Dempsey. After a lifetime of hard work and 
dedication, my good friend Tom Dempsey passed away on February 1, 2001. 
He was 66 years old.
  Tom was a very private man who quietly made possible the growth and 
development of Mammoth Lakes. While most people are unaware of his 
contributions to the community, he played a vital role in forming what 
it has become.
  From the time he arrived in the early 1950's with dreams of becoming 
a professional ski racer, Mammoth Lakes was always near and dear to 
Tom's heart. In 1955, he helped build Chair I at Mammoth Mountain. 
After working as a carpenter for several summers, in 1961, he 
constructed his first home in Mammoth. That was but the beginning of 
great things to come. As the sole owner of Dempsey Construction 
Corporation, Tom became one of the foremost developers of mountain 
resorts and planned communities in the western United States. However, 
despite many successful developments elsewhere, the Snowcreek Resort in 
Mammoth Lakes has remained the corporation's flagship project.
  In a very literal way, the town of Mammoth Lakes is what it is 
because of Tom Dempsey's vision and sense of civic duty. When he 
purchased the 355-acre Snowcreek Resort property in 1977, the town was 
under a building moratorium due to insufficient water supplies. That 
moratorium was lifted after Tom transferred significant surface and 
ground water rights from his property to the Mammoth County Water 
District and permitted the district to drill five major water supply 
wells.
  It was also Tom Dempsey who provided a solution to the town's chronic 
lack of land for community facilities. In 1980, he completed a 
complicated land exchange with the U.S. Forest Service that involved 80 
acres of government land. Of that land, Tom donated 21 acres for the 
Mammoth High School site, 20 acres for a future school site in Crowley 
Lake, and 9.5 acres to the town of Mammoth Lakes. Furthermore, Tom made 
Snowcreek lands available for a fire station, church, and a water 
treatment plant.
  In addition to these efforts, Tom voluntarily contributed to many 
other community development projects. These include the landscaping of 
Main Street, improvements to the Whitmore baseball fields, landscaping 
and lighting improvements at the Mammoth/June Lake Airport, and 
restoration of the Mammoth Creek meadow.
  While it was his passion for skiing that brought him to the beautiful 
Eastern Sierra, Tom also enjoyed many other athletic and outdoors 
endeavors. He was an avid windsurfer, bicyclist, tennis player, and 
hiker. The same deep love of the environment that drew him to outdoor 
activities is reflected in all of his development projects.
  More importantly than his numerous professional and civic 
accomplishments, Tom

[[Page E164]]

Dempsey was also a devoted family man. He is survived by his lovely 
wife, Linda, and his daughter Nikki.
  Mr. Speaker, Mammoth Lakes has experienced many great changes over 
the decades that Tom Demspey lived there. In fact, he seemed to be at 
the heart of them all. He truly was one of Mammoth Lakes' founding 
fathers. I join with his family, friends, and community in noting that 
he will be sorely missed.
  May you rest in peace, Tom.

                          ____________________