[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 84 (Friday, June 21, 2002)]
[Senate]
[Page S5898]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 HONORING JACK JURDEN'S TALENT AND WIT

 Mr. BIDEN. Madam President, I rise today to salute a man who 
has lampooned me more than anyone else in Delaware throughout my 30 
years as a U.S. Senator. He has stuck me in the mud, dirtied by 
political campaigns. He has sketched me swimming in an inner tube 
fighting for NATO's involvement in Bosnia. He has put me in my place 
in, an over-sized Chair to characterize my position on the Senate 
Foreign Relations Committee. He has donned me in a wizard's robe next 
to a giant cooking pot simmering over a fire.
  Yes, today I rise to salute a man whose signature is a talking frog.
  Today I rise to salute a man who has made me laugh nearly every 
morning that I have opened my local newspaper for nearly the past 40 
years and flipped to the editorial page.
  Today I rise to salute long-time News Journal editorial cartoonist 
Jack Jurden.
  After nearly four decades of his whimsical, witty, thought-provoking, 
light-hearted, good-natured sketches, Jack Jurden is retiring. He is 
not quite putting his pencils and paper in a drawer permanently. 
Fortunately for us in Delaware, he has promised to produce a few 
editorial cartoons a year. But I and so many daily readers of 
Delaware's largest newspaper will miss his black and white sketches 
that have added so much color and laughter to our lives.
  Jack joined the News Journal in 1952 as a photo engraver. His real 
love was drawing, so the News Journal decided to take a chance on him 
as the editorial Cartoonist. In my opinion, that is the best decision 
that newspaper ever made.
  Jack's start in the newspaper business started long before his career 
with the News Journal. Like many of us, as a kid growing up, Jack was a 
newspaper delivery boy. Fresh out of high school in Allentown, PA, he 
put his artistic talents on hold to serve his country in World War II. 
As an army soldier, he was stationed in the Philippines and in occupied 
Japan.
  Over the years, I am very fortunate to have gotten to know Jack well. 
His love for his craft, his country and his community are surpassed 
only by his love and loyalty to his family: his wife of 50 years, Faye; 
his daughter Jenifer and his daughter Jan, who is a Superior Court 
Judge in Delaware. These days Jack's true love is his grandchildren.
  I realize this is not your typical Senate tribute. But I so admire 
this man and his talent that I have many of his cartoons lampooning me 
framed in my office and in my home. So I will miss him. And I think I 
speak for thousands of others in Delaware who have laughed heartily 
every morning with their coffee, their coworkers and their family as 
they scan his take on events in our State and our world, always looking 
for that little talking frog in the corner to offer some words of 
wisdom.
  My very best wishes to him and his family.

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