[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 172 (Sunday, November 23, 2003)]
[Senate]
[Page S15646]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         ADDITIONAL STATEMENTS

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                        DANIEL AND JO ANN PLATT

 Mr. BOND. Mr. President, today I rise to honor two outstanding 
Missourians, Daniel and Jo Ann Platt. The occasion is a special one, as 
they celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary.
  Only a year after Jo Ann, a native of Indiana, and Dan, a New Yorker, 
were married on December 5, 1953, they came to the Midwest from 
Manhattan, where Dan--an anesthesiologist--had been asked to become 
chief of the Anesthesia Department at Knickerbocker Hospital and the 
New York Eye and Ear Infirmary.
  Instead, Dan practiced at Alton Memorial Hospital, a place where the 
Platts believed that he could engage in a personal, patient-centered 
style of medicine that was impossible in a larger, more urban hospital 
setting. And there, he opened the first recovery room in the St. Louis 
metropolitan area, and established one of the first coronary care units 
and intensive care units in the St. Louis area, along with Barnes 
Hospital. Upon Dan's retirement in 2002, Alton Memorial Hospital 
dedicated its surgical and emergency building in his name, to 
commemorate his 48 years of service to the community, complete with a 
bust and a plaque paying tribute to Dan as ``the consummate 
physician.''
  As Dan worked long hours at the hospital, Jo Ann was busy, as well. 
Over the years, she has served the community in many capacities, 
including as a member of the board of trustees of St. Louis Country Day 
School, on the vestry of The Church of Saint Michael and Saint George, 
on the board of governors of the Saint Louis Woman's Club, on the board 
of the St. Louis Charitable Foundation, and as a board member for both 
the Jennie D. Hayner Library Association and the Alton Museum of 
History.
  Yet the bulk of Jo Ann's time was spent in supporting Dan's practice 
of medicine--which she considered a ministry--and being a devoted and 
fun-loving mother to their three children: Drew, now a commercial 
realtor and developer in Evansville, IN; Brett, who runs his own 
currency hedge fund in London, England, and recently became engaged to 
Mariela Ferro; and Carol, an attorney, political analyst and 
commentator, who lives in San Marino, CA, with her husband Jack Liebau, 
a portfolio manager who recently opened his own investment management 
firm. Carol, after surviving Harvard Law School as an overt Republican, 
worked faithfully on my staff in Washington for 2 years before 
realizing that her colleagues simply could not listen fast enough. All 
three children remember lives filled with the love, support and 
encouragement of their parents--and many, many good times.
  Truly, Dan and Jo Ann's life together has been full of 
accomplishments and blessings--most notably, the heartfelt love and 
respect of their children and children-in-law. We wish them every 
happiness in the years to come, together with our warmest 
congratulations and best wishes.

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