[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 126 (Tuesday, September 25, 2001)]
[House]
[Pages H6045-H6046]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  2100
      TRIBUTE TO TED C. CONNELL, A PATRIOT AND TRUE PUBLIC SERVANT

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Simpson). Under a previous order of the 
House, the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Edwards) is recognized for 5 
minutes.
  Mr. EDWARDS. Mr. Speaker, on Sunday, September 16, Texas and the 
Nation lost a patriot and a true public servant, Mr. Ted C. Connell. My 
friend, our Nation's friend, passed away at his home in Killeen, Texas, 
after a courageous battle with cancer.
  Ted Connell lived a life of service to others and to his beloved 
country. He was a World War II combat veteran, was elected Commander-
in-Chief of the Veterans of Foreign Wars. He was a great friend of my 
political mentor, former Congressman Olin E. (Tiger) Teague, and he was 
a friend of President Lyndon Johnson and the Johnson family.
  Ted Connell was born in 1924 in the small town of Hamlin, Texas, the 
fifth of ten sons. He dropped out of high school, but finished his 
diploma while serving in the U.S. Army field artillery on the island of 
Guam during World War II.
  During his 30-month tour in the South Pacific with the 316th Tank 
Destroyer Battalion of the 98th Division, he also fought in Saipan, 
Tinian and Okinawa. He eventually rose to the rank of Lieutenant 
Colonel in the Army Reserve.
  While on Okinawa, in one of the bloodiest battles of the war, Ted 
Connell rescued a young Marine who had been shot in the chest. He sat 
with his mortally wounded comrade for 3 hours, comforting him in the 
last moments of his life. When Ted returned to the United States, he 
traveled to the Marine's hometown in Colorado to tell his parents in 
person about their son's death.
  That mission of comfort and solace opened a new chapter of service in 
Ted Connell's life. The Marine's father was heavily involved in 
veteran's affairs, and encouraged Ted, young Ted Connell, to do 
likewise.
  He did just that, becoming active in his local VFW post, and rising 
to the leadership at the State and national levels, culminating with 
his election as national Commander-in-Chief of the VFW in 1960.
  Ted Connell was a friend and confidante of President Lyndon Johnson, 
coordinating and advancing Presidential visits to Guam, Uruguay, 
Central America, South Vietnam, Australia, and Pakistan, and serving as 
an on-scene coordinator for a meeting with Pope Paul VI with the 
Vatican.
  He served on several congressional and Presidential fact-finding 
missions, taking him to Vietnam five times, to Laos, Thailand, 
Malaysia, and Korea.
  Ted Connell also served the State of Texas with great distinction as 
a member of the Texas Veterans Land Board, chairman of the Texas 
Veterans Commission, and as a member of the Sam Rayburn Foundation.
  When his hometown of Killeen needed leadership, Ted Connell answered 
the call to duty once again, spearheading efforts to build the Lake 
Belton Dam, Central Texas College, and Metroplex Hospital, and to 
strengthen the U.S. Army's Fort Hood.
  He served two terms as mayor of Killeen, was director and president 
of the Killeen Chamber of Commerce, the Industrial Foundation, a 
director of the Metroplex Hospital, and chairman of the hospital's 
building fund campaign.
  Somewhere in all of this service to the public Ted Connell found time 
to operate his successful car dealership for 46 years, and to further 
leave his mark by bringing local airline service to his community. He 
opened an airline in 1965, eventually merging it with Hood Airlines and 
with Rio Airways. By 1974, Rio, serving small- and medium-sized cities 
in central, north, and south Texas, had become the seventh largest 
commuter airline in the country.
  Fittingly, the Killeen City Council recently named the new passenger 
terminal at the about-to-be-completed,

[[Page H6046]]

over the next few years, Fort Hood-Killeen Joint-Use Airport in honor 
of this great veteran and community leader.
  Ted Connell fought for his Nation, Mr. Speaker, in time of war, and 
served his community and country in time of peace. His indomitable 
optimism and love of country were quintessential American values. He 
represented the special spirit that makes me optimistic about our 
Nation's future.
  As a businessman and community leader, Ted Connell worked tirelessly 
for jobs, prosperity, and opportunities for central Texans. His 
unparalleled record of public service and his enduring legacy to his 
community are matched only by his countless quiet acts of caring for 
those in need.
  All those who knew or were the beneficiaries of Ted Connell and his 
humanity were enriched by his life and are diminished by his passing. 
Winston Churchill once said, ``We make a living by what we get, but we 
make a life by what we give.'' By that high measure, Ted Connell's life 
was a true success.
  Mr. Speaker, if I could just finish with one story, at Ted Connell's 
funeral recently in Killeen, Texas, a friend of his, Gaylen Christy, 
told the story, in the last 2 years where he and Mr. Connell were 
sitting in a coffee shop, but this time Ted was a patient of 
chemotherapy.
  Rather than worrying about his own concerns, he heard a middle-aged 
couple at a table nearby talking about their problems. Their son had 
just been assigned to Fort Hood, but recently thereafter was asked to 
go to serve his Nation in Bosnia as a helicopter mechanic.
  Their problem was they did not know how to get their son's belongings 
to the airport in Austin to be freighted back to Pennsylvania to their 
home, and then to get their son's car back. Mr. Connell, having heard 
their concern over their son's matters, walked over to their table, 
gave them a card, and said, come talk to me at my car dealership and we 
will take care of your problem.
  He proceeded to provide a driver and a car to take that son's 
belongings to Austin, Texas, and then provided a driver to drive their 
son's car back to Pennsylvania, and paid for that driver to fly back to 
Texas. When Mr. Connell made this offer to this great family, they 
responded to him by saying, ``Sir, we don't know how we can pay you 
back.'' Ted Connell's answer was, ``You have already paid me back by 
raising a son who was willing to serve his Nation in uniform.''
  That was the man, Ted Connell. Our Nation will forever remember and 
be better for his spirit and public service.

                          ____________________