[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 16 (Tuesday, February 10, 2004)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E155]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        TRIBUTE TO LOUIS RAMSAY

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. MARION BERRY

                              of arkansas

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, February 10, 2004

  Mr. BERRY. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to a great 
Arkansan and an outstanding citizen; I am proud to recognize Louis 
Ramsay in the Congress. His recent death was a great loss to his 
community, his family, his state and this nation.
  Born, raised and educated in Fordyce, Arkansas, Mr. Ramsay left his 
home town to play quarterback for the Razorback football team at the 
University of Arkansas at Fayetteville. After earning a pre-law degree 
from the university, Mr. Ramsay served as a pilot in the U.S. Army Air 
Corps in Europe in WWII where he was awarded the Air Medal with four 
Oak Leaf Clusters. He was discharged from the U.S. Air Force Reserve as 
a Major.
  Mr. Ramsay lived his life serving his community in every capacity 
imaginable. He worked at the law firm baring his name, Ramsay, 
Bridgforth, Harrelson & Starling, and was Chairman of the Executive 
Committee and Emeritus Director of Simmons First National Corp. He was 
the only person in Arkansas history to have been elected and served as 
president of both the Arkansas Bar Association and Arkansas Bankers' 
Association.
  He served as chair to Arkansas' Sesquicentennial Commission in 1985, 
appointed by then-Governor Bill Clinton. In 2003 he was inducted into 
the Walton School of Business, Arkansas Business Hall of Fame and a 
faculty fund was soon established at the University of Arkansas Sam M. 
Walton College of Business in honor of Mr. Ramsay and his wife.
  Mr. Ramsay was a role model for us all. A man who worked hard and did 
his best to give back to his community more then he took from it. On 
behalf of the Congress, I extend sympathies to Louis' family, and 
gratitude for all he did to make the world a better place.

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