[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 147 (Monday, October 20, 2003)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E2097]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[[Page E2097]]
                       REMEMBERING McPHELAN REESE

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. RALPH M. HALL

                                of texas

                    in the house of representatives

                        Monday, October 20, 2003

  Mr. HALL. Mr. Speaker, I am honored today to pay tribute to a 
talented and endearing man who contributed so much to the community of 
Bonham, Texas, and to the Sam Rayburn Library in Bonham for the past 
quarter of a century--McPhelan Reese, who passed away this past summer 
at the age of 97.
  Mac Reese was a fixture in Bonham as the writer-in-residence at the 
Sam Rayburn Library from 1975 until his retirement in 2001. He was the 
oldest full-time employee in The University of Texas System. Mac wrote 
the introduction to each chapter of Sam Rayburn's autobiography, Speak, 
Mister Speaker, and wrote the preface to the Library's collection of 
political cartoons, Impressions of Mister Sam. He was the author of two 
books of poetry, Showdown and other Poems and Gullible's Travails and 
was working on this third volume, All About Us, a tribute to his 
beloved Bonham, when failing health forced him to stop.
  Born in Bonham, Mac was raised by his mother, Victoria Phelan Reese, 
an actress and teacher who instilled in him a love of the arts, and his 
grandfather, Leonidas Reese. Mac pursued singing at the Kidd-Key 
Conservatory in Sherman and then at the Fine Arts Academy in 
Cincinnati. While in Cincinnati he also trained to be a boxer at Speedy 
Bishop's Gym, where many of the Midwest's fighters worked out. Mac 
simultaneously pursued singing and boxing careers before facial 
injuries brought both efforts to an end. He then spent some time in 
Hollywood, where he played small roles in the movies and worked as a 
writer.
  Eventually Mac moved back to Texas--first to Houston, where he worked 
as a master painter. In the 1970s he moved to Bonham, his hometown, 
following the death of his first wife, Pan Carr Reese, and his marriage 
to Ila Rogers Carr. In 1975 he began working at the Sam Rayburn Library 
as a writer-in-residence and the unofficial poet laureate of Fannin 
County. He delighted in telling stories and was considered by many to 
be Bonham's greatest storyteller. Even after retirement, he continued 
to come to the Library and entertain children and visitors with his 
many delightful stories.
  Mac was a beloved and much appreciated fixture in the community and 
at the Sam Rayburn Library. Generations of schoolchildren and visitors 
to the Library will remember him with fondness, and through him they 
will remember and appreciate so many stories associated with Bonham. On 
behalf of his many friends and fans, I want to take this opportunity in 
the House of Representatives to pay our last respects to this beloved 
and colorful Texan--McPhelan Reese.

                          ____________________