[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 84 (Tuesday, June 10, 2003)]
[Senate]
[Pages S7602-S7603]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




               IN MEMORY OF FORMER CONGRESSMAN TOM GETTYS

  Mr. HOLLINGS. Mr. President, tomorrow I will be attending the funeral 
of a former colleague from the South Carolina congressional delegation, 
Tom Gettys, and I rise to recognize this legend from Rock Hill.
  I have known Congressman Gettys for many years. He came to Washington 
2 years before I did, having already been an officer in the Navy, a 
school principal, a postmaster, and so he came in with a reputation of 
a person's person. It did not matter who you were in the world, he was 
your buddy; and since he was in a position to help people as a Member 
of Congress, he would and he did.
  He stayed just 10 years, but he made an impression for the next 30. I 
never heard a single bad thing said about him, and I don't know very 
many politicians I can say that about. He has been out of office since 
1974, but everybody in my State still always refers to him as 
Congressman because he was just one great guy who cared about people. 
This Senator will miss this gentleman, always the statesman, always the 
one with a good story.
  Tomorrow, I will extend the Senate's sympathy to his wife Mary, and 
his daughters Julia and Sara. And to share just how much Tom meant to 
his community, I ask unanimous consent that this article from the 
Herald in Rock Hill be printed in the Record.
  There being no objection, the article was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

             [From the Rock Hill (SC) Herald, June 9, 2003]

             Former Congressman Leaves Legacy of Dedication

                            (By Andrew Dys)

       He voted to create Medicaid and was proud the rest of his 
     life--but he was just as proud to know the doormen and 
     elevator operators in the U.S. Capitol by first name. Tom 
     Gettys, a working-class man from Rock Hill's Hampton Street 
     who went on to become a Congressman from South Carolina's 5th 
     District from 1964 to 1974, died Sunday at Westminster Towers 
     in Rock Hill. Gettys was 90.
       Gettys' legacy of grace, dedication and constituent service 
     is one that current 5th District Congressman John Spratt, D-
     York, has tried to emulate during his own 20 years in 
     Congress. Gettys' record is not in the laws he passed, but 
     the people he helped.
       ``His life exemplified what living in a democracy is all 
     about,'' Spratt said Sunday night. ``Everybody in this 
     district not only respected Tom Gettys, but they loved him as 
     well. Tom had a natural, easygoing affinity for people and 
     the problems they had to live through. Tom Gettys will be 
     missed by all of us.''
       Gettys was born on June 19, 1912, and was educated at the 
     public schools in Rock Hill and later at Clemson and Erskine 
     College. He was principal at the now-defunct Central 
     Elementary School in Rock Hill from 1933 to 1941.
       Gettys volunteered for the Navy in World War II after the 
     bombing of Pearl Harbor, and Spratt remembers Gettys was fond 
     of saying ``Admiral Nimitz and I did all right over there in 
     the Pacific.''
       5th District Congressman Dick Richards called on Gettys to 
     run his staff in Washington for seven years. A political 
     future hatched in Washington, but Gettys did more than 
     politick the back hallways of Capitol Hill--he studied law at 
     night and passed the bar exam, and even was Rock Hill's 
     postmaster upon his return from Washington from 1951 to 1954.
       Before Gettys won his spot in Congress in 1964 against a 
     crowded four-man field, he was a lion of Rock Hill civic 
     life, serving as president of Rotary, the Chamber of 
     Commerce, the YMCA and even as chairman of the Rock Hill 
     School Board. After his return, he became a part of the civic 
     fabric of Rock Hill.
       The city honored Gettys by naming the old federal 
     courthouse on East Main Street in his honor in 1997, a 
     building now called the Tom S. Gettys Center.
       Gettys had a stroke several years ago and months ago moved 
     from his longtime Myrtle Drive home into Westminster Towers. 
     He maintained contact with old friends, however, and 
     regularly attended bi-weekly meetings of the Rock Hill Rotary 
     Club when his health would allow.
       John Hardin, former Rock Hill mayor and lifelong friend, 
     said Gettys and he were part of a weekly golfing outing with 
     A.W. Huckle, publisher of The Evening Herald, and banker 
     George Dunlap.
       ``I had known him since childhood,'' Hardin said, ``but we 
     became intimate friends after World War II.''
       Gettys, a Navy officer, was assigned to Iowa but requested 
     overseas service and jumped at duty in the Pacific.
       Hardin, who ran First Federal Savings and Loan, saw Gettys 
     frequently when he traveled to Washington to lobby as 
     president of the Savings and Loan League.
       ``The thing he liked best was trying to help people,'' 
     Hardin said. ``He was great at what they call constituent 
     service. He was more interested in helping people than in 
     passing legislation.''

[[Page S7603]]

       Gettys was a great teaser, and he often would catch people 
     by surprise by asking if they enjoyed the casserole he sent. 
     When told that, no, they hadn't gotten a casserole, Gettys 
     would respond, ``Well, I left it on the porch. The dogs must 
     have gotten it.''
       The former congressman cultivated stories about being 
     tightfisted, but in reality, he was a gentle, caring person, 
     Hardin said.
       ``He had the best sense of humor,'' Hardin said. ``I don't 
     know anyone who had a better one.''
       Another former Rock Hill Mayor, Betty Jo Rhea, called 
     Gettys, ``One of my favorite people.''
       Gettys' reputation as the hometown guy turned legislator is 
     deep in the memories of Rock Hill residents. People knew 
     Gettys had many jobs before he ran for Congress and that he 
     came home when he was finished his work in Washington.
       ``Tom was my husband Jimmy's principal when he was at 
     Central School on Black Street in the early 30s,'' Rhea said.
       Gettys is survived by daughters Julia and Sara and his wife 
     of 55 years, Mary Phillips Gettys. Funeral arrangements will 
     be announced later.
       His sister Sara, who still lives in Rock Hill, said the Tom 
     Gettys people knew from public life was the same guy the 
     family loved. Even after 10 years in Congress, Tom Gettys was 
     a Rock Hill boy deep in his bones.
       ``He was a great person who looked after all of us,'' Sara 
     Gettys said. ``The man who went to Washington was the same 
     man when he came home.''

                          ____________________