[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 112 (Friday, July 25, 2003)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1633]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    TRIBUTE TO JERRY CLARENCE PARKS

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. KENDRICK B. MEEK

                               of florida

                    in the house of representatives

                         Friday, July 25, 2003

  Mr. MEEK of Florida. Mr. Speaker, l'm writing to express my 
condolences on the recent demise of the late Jerry Clarence Parks. 
Indeed, words are so inadequate at this time to personify my sadness. 
However, I hope that my humble prayers would somehow assuage the pain 
that now burdens the Parks family.
  Indeed, the passing away of a good and faithful steward who toiled 
and sacrificed his life for countless people and this grateful 
community provides us with the sobering thought of the dignity of the 
human spirit and the fragility of life. Amidst the sorrows, however, 
let us remind ourselves that it is precisely during times like this 
that we must find the hope and assurance in Christ's words when He 
promised us: ``I am the Resurrection and the Life; he who believes in 
me, even if he dies, shall live.'' For those of us bonded together in 
the Christian Faith, we firmly believe that Jerry's life has not ended; 
it merely changed for the better.
  I pray that the Parks family anchors itself on these words. And while 
we remember Jerry Parks, his loyalty and commitment to the members of 
the Bible Baptist Church, the City of Miami Retired Fire and Police 
Association and the Veterans of Foreign Wars, let us thank God for 
having let him grace our lives with the full measure of his love and 
devotion to the ideals of Christian stewardship and caring for the less 
fortunate members of our society.
  May God comfort Beverly Parks, his daughter and his family and loved 
ones with the blessed assurance of His love and peace in this period of 
bereavement.

                          ____________________