[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 134 (Friday, October 11, 2002)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1843-E1844]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     TRIBUTE TO JOE CHRISTIAN, JR.

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. JAMES E. CLYBURN

                           of south carolina

                    in the house of representatives

                       Thursday, October 10, 2002

  Mr. CLYBURN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to Joe 
Christian, Jr., a classmate, good friend, great teacher and successful 
businessman who worked for twenty years as a leading Sales 
Representative with the Procter and Gamble sales organization. He is a 
highly skilled motivator and communicator with special strengths in 
public speaking, training and marketing.
  Mr. Christian is a native of Fairfield, Alabama near Birmingham and 
received his high school diploma from Fairfield Industrial High School 
in 1952. He served in the United States Air Force from 1953 until 1957 
and received an Honorable Discharge from the Reserves in 1961. After 
his active military service, Mr. Christian received an Associate 
Business Degree from Lewis College of Business in Detroit, Michigan in 
1959 and subsequently matriculated at South Carolina State College 
(University) where I had the pleasure of meeting him. We became fast 
friends and remain so today.
  After graduating from South Carolina State University in 1961 with a 
Bachelor of Science Degree in Business Administration, Mr. Christian 
began his professional career in 1962 as an Assistant Purchasing Agent 
at Tuskegee University in Alabama. After a year, he returned to South 
Carolina State University to serve as a Junior Accountant and Chief of 
Inventories and he stayed in that position until 1965. For the next 
four years, he worked at Savannah State College in Georgia where he 
served as the Director of Auxiliary Services and managed the College's 
physical plant (including dormitory equipment and renovation). He 
returned to Orangeburg in 1969 and served for a year as Business 
Manager of Claflin College where he managed a budget of $1 million and 
a physical plant of $3 million. He also supervised office managers in 
the College bookstore, dining hall and accounting offices.
  Mr. Christian decided to go back to school and earned a Master of 
Business Administration Degree from Clark-Atlanta University's School 
of Business in 1972. Armed with his MBA, Mr. Christian began a new 
phase of his career in the corporate sector that lasted twenty years. 
As a Sales Representative for Grocery Retail Operations at Proctor and 
Gamble, Mr. Christian was responsible for expanding the paper, bar 
soap, food and beverage divisions and for expanding markets for new 
products.
  He retired from Proctor and Gamble in 1991 and in 1992 returned to 
his teaching roots. For eight years, he served as an Adjunct Professor 
at Fayetteville State University's School of Business and Economics in 
North Carolina, and taught courses on American Capitalism, Retailing, 
Sales Management, and Principles

[[Page E1844]]

of Marketing. Mr. Christian presently serves as a substitute teacher 
for the Wake County Public Schools in Raleigh, North Carolina.
  Mr. Christian is a member, deacon and Sunday school teacher at the 
Trinity Baptist Church. He has received numerous awards, including the 
Ford Foundation Fellowship Award, and the Distinguished Service Award 
from the Durham Sertoma Club. He is also a recipient of the Silver 
Citation from Omega Psi Phi Fraternity.
  Mr. Speaker, I ask you and my colleagues to join me today in honoring 
Joe Christian, Jr., a man who has touched innumerable lives in his 
community in countless ways. As we celebrate Homecoming at our alma 
mater, South Carolina State University, I wish him continued success 
and Godspeed!

                          ____________________