[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 35 (Wednesday, March 5, 2003)]
[House]
[Page H1520]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




           A TRIBUTE TO AN AMAZING MAN FROM LAKELAND, FLORIDA

  (Mr. PUTNAM asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. PUTNAM. Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor an extraordinary 
man, a man who lived to see his wish come true. Lakeland's John 
McMorran, who passed away as the oldest-living American at the ripe old 
age of 113, got his wish to live in 3 centuries.
  John McMorran, the fourth-oldest living person in the world, was born 
in a log cabin in Port Huron, Michigan, on June 19, 1889, the same year 
the Eiffel Tower was built. In 1990 he moved to Lakeland in my district 
to be near his family. The son of farmers, he held a variety of jobs 
until he retired at 84. He worked at a Detroit munitions factory 
earning a dollar a day during World War I. Kind, happy, hard working, 
well put together were just some of the words used to describe him. He 
is survived by a vast network of family and friends who loved him.
  Madam Speaker, I believe John McMorran said it best himself. When 
asked what his secret was to long life, he responded by saying: ``I 
drink a cup of coffee before every meal and I stay away from cheap 
whiskey.''
  God bless John and his family, Madam Speaker.

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