[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 122 (Tuesday, September 24, 2002)]
[Senate]
[Pages S9110-S9111]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




             IN MEMORY OF JAMIE CHRISTENSON AND ERIC HURST

 Mr. HARKIN. Mr. President, I rise today to offer my thoughts 
and prayers to the family of Jamie Christenson of Marshalltown, Iowa 
and Eric Hurst of Ventura, California. Bob and Debra Christenson 
suffered a terrible loss this summer when their young daughter, Jamie, 
died in a tragic swimming accident in Minnesota at the young age of 17. 
The Hurst family lost Eric, only 24, as he valiantly attempted to save 
Jamie's life.
  Jamie Christenson was one of 53 campers from Trinity Lutheran Church 
in Marshalltown who were at Camp Vermillion, near Cook, Minnesota. 
While on a canoeing trip on the afternoon of July 30, Jamie and her 
friends took a break from carrying their canoes around the more 
treacherous falls and began cooling off in the waters near Upper 
Basswood Falls, in Minnesota's Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness.
  Beyond the falls, Jamie and a group of campers donned life preservers 
and entered the water. There, in what had appeared to be calm and 
shallow waters, Jamie was caught in a swift undercurrent and pulled 
below the river.
  Several campers and boaters in the area rushed to her rescue, 
including Eric Hurst, who was working on the river as a canoe guide. 
Sadly, the river claimed both of their lives.
  The State of Minnesota and Governor Jesse Ventura have each issued a 
posthumous certificate of commendation for heroism to the family of 
Eric Hurst. It is my hope that the Senate can act in some similar 
fashion, or, that there can be some other Federal recognition of Eric's 
efforts to save Jamie's life.
  As the father of two daughters, I can think of no pain deeper than to 
lose a child. I offer my deepest condolences to Bob and Debra, their 
family, and to Jamie's many friends, as well as to the family and 
friends of Eric Hurst. In times of such pain, words fall far short of 
comfort we wish we could provide to those in mourning, but even words 
are we can offer.
  So I offer the words of the Greek poet Aeschylus: ``In our sleep, 
pain which

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cannot forget falls drop by drop upon the heart until, in our own 
despair, against our will, comes wisdom through the awful grace of 
God.''
  To the Christenson family and the Hurst family, I offer these words 
as a prayer for an end to their sorrow.

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