[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 126 (Tuesday, October 1, 2002)]
[Senate]
[Pages S9705-S9706]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      HOLLADAY JOHNSTON RICHARDSON

  Mr. HELMS. Mr. President, our friend and distinguished colleague, 
Strom Thurmond, has a lost a dear member of his Senate Family. Holly 
Richardson's courageous battle with breast cancer ended early Monday 
morning. I do not use the word courageous lightly; if there ever was a 
courageous cancer patient, it was Holly Richardson. She fought until 
the end and never gave up.
  Holly was one of the most delightful people I have ever met. She was 
Strom Thurmond's right, hand lady for almost 25 years and she meant so 
much to the entire Thurmond family. Holly's strong faith helped her 
immeasurably and while we all mourn her passing, we know where she is.
  Her obituary in this morning's Columbia, SC, newspaper, The State, 
poignantly describes this remarkable lady, as does the article about 
her in today's Charlotte Observer. I ask unanimous consent that they be 
printed in the Record.
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

              [From the State, Columbia, SC, Oct. 1, 2002]

        Holly Johnston Richardson--Longtime Thurmond Confidante

                           (By Lauren Markoe)

       Washington.--Holly Johnston Richardson--confidante, 
     gatekeeper and personal adviser to U.S. Sen. Strom Thurmond 
     since 1978--died Monday of breast cancer.
       ``Early this morning, I lost one of my closest friends and 
     staff members,'' Thurmond said in a statement issued by his 
     office. ``She was a member of my extended family in every 
     sense of the word.''
       The Summerville native was 48. Since 1979, Richardson 
     functioned as Thurmond's master scheduler, making sure he was 
     in the right place at the appointed time. Her supersized 
     Rolodex included the numbers for scores of average South 
     Carolinians and several heads of state, and she could get 
     most of them on the phone in seconds.
       But generations of staffers say it was her Southern charm, 
     impeccable manners and love for Thurmond that made her one of 
     the most important people in his life.
       ``I've seen the senator cry twice. When his daughter died 
     and today, when Holly died,'' said Mark Goodin, a former 
     press secretary and adviser to Thurmond. ``She was always 
     there for him. I don't think anybody ever thought she would 
     go before he did.''
       Thurmond's daughter Nancy Moore Thurmond died in a car 
     crash in 1993. The oldest living and longest-serving senator, 
     he will turn 100 on Dec. 5.
       Chris Kelley Cimko, Thurmond's press secretary from 1993 to 
     1997, said Richardson went well beyond her office duties in 
     her service to Thurmond, particularly before he began living 
     at Walter Reed Army Medical Center last year.
       ``When she was cooking Sunday night, she would make a 
     double batch of whatever it was and make sure it was in his 
     refrigerator,'' said Cimko.
       ``Like all trusted staff members, Holly Richardson had my 
     ear,'' Thurmond's statement continued. ``What she probably 
     never knew fully is that she had my heart.''
       Richardson met the Thurmond family after joining his 1978 
     re-election campaign, just

[[Page S9706]]

     after her graduation from Converse College in Spartanburg. 
     She drove a camper, nicknamed ``Strom Trek,'' over 10,000 
     miles in 10 weeks, recalled Nancy Thurmond, the senator's 
     now-estranged wife.
       Her first job in Thurmond's office was to answer phones, 
     greet visitors and help out with constituents' problems. She 
     also oversaw the office's intern and page programs, which 
     gave high school and college students opportunities to learn 
     the workings of a congressional office.
       Generations of interns, staffers and members of Congress 
     recall her courtesy and work ethic.
       ``Holly Richardson was one of the most personable and 
     efficient people I've ever known,'' said N.C. Sen. Jesse 
     Helms. ``She was unfailingly pleasant and devoted to Strom 
     Thurmond--a feeling that was mutual.''
       ``She treated everyone the same way, with dignity and 
     respect,'' said Cimko.
       She is survived by her husband, Phil, and two children, 
     Emmett, 12, and Anne 9, and her parents, Joanne and Coy 
     Johnston of Summerville.
       Richardson, an active member of St. Paul's Episcopal Church 
     in Alexandria, Va., her adopted hometown, had a strong faith 
     that supported here and others. She was also an active member 
     of the Junior League.
       ``When we lost our daughter, Holly's vigilant faith helped 
     to sustain all of us,'' Nancy Thurmond said.
       But as devoted as she was to the Thurmond's her own family 
     still came first, said Nancy Thurmond. She and staffers said 
     they marveled at Richardson's ability to balance her family 
     life and her work on Capitol Hill.
       She was diagnosed with breast cancer less than a year ago, 
     and rebounded after rounds of chemotherapy. But the disease 
     spread, and she had to stop working several months ago.
       A memorial service will be held at 11 a.m. Saturday at 
     Trinity Episcopal Cathedral in Columbia.
                                  ____


              [From the Charlotte Observer, Oct. 1, 2002]

                 Thurmond Staffer Dies of Cancer at 47

                           (By Charles Hurt)

       Washington.--Holladay Richardson, one of Sen. Strom 
     Thurmond's top aides for nearly a quarter century, died 
     Monday morning after a year-long, fight against breast 
     cancer. She was 47 and the mother of two children.
       ``Words cannot begin to express my deepest sadness and pain 
     with the loss of Holly,'' Thurmond wrote in a statement.
       In a statement made part of the Senate's public record, 
     South Carolina's senior senator said many aides over the 
     years had his ear, but that only Richardson ``had my heart.'' 
     He called her his ``unofficial third daughter.''
       Richardson's most recent post was scheduler, the person who 
     sets up Thurmond's calendar.
       She first worked for him in South Carolina on his 1978 
     Senate campaign. Since 1979, she has shared Thurmond's 
     Washington office, where she has seen eight chiefs of staff 
     come and go.
       Nationally syndicated political columnist Armstrong 
     Williams recalled Richardson's importance from his days on 
     Thurmond's staff more than 20 years ago.
       ``I can't remember the senator without Holly,'' he said. 
     ``I knew she had cancer, but this is terrible. She was always 
     there.''
       As Thurmond's health faded in recent years, Richardson and 
     other top staffers assumed greater roles in the office of 
     American history's oldest and longest-serving senator.
       ``Holly protected him, would finish sentences for him and 
     knew what he was thinking,'' Williams said. ``She was 
     everything that anybody would ever want in a daughter. She 
     was like a child protecting her parent.''
       In May, Richardson and her family walked in the National 
     Race for the Cure in Washington.
       She described to a reporter for Roll Call at the time how 
     she and her family had coped with her diseases by helping 
     people less fortunate, such as a bed-ridden neighbor for whom 
     they cooked.
       ``You go through a few minutes of self pity before you 
     realize that you can either sit here and feel sorry for 
     yourself or you can put it aside and move on,'' she was 
     quoted as saying. ``That's how my family has gotten through 
     this, by focusing on others who are in bad situations. 
     Extending a hand to others, that's what life is all about.''
       Richardson is survived by her husband, Phil, their children 
     Anne, 9, and Emmett, 12, and her parents, Joanne and Coy 
     Johnston of Summerville, S.C.

                          ____________________