[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 26 (Wednesday, March 3, 2004)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E295]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        TRIBUTE TO DOUG DONNELLY

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. SCOTT McINNIS

                              of colorado

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, March 3, 2004

  Mr. McINNIS. Mr. Speaker, it is with a heavy heart that I rise before 
you to pay tribute to the life of a remarkable and loved man from my 
district. Doug Donnelly of Monte Vista, Colorado, passed away recently 
at the young age of forty-one. Doug will forever be remembered for his 
kind heart and spirit and I would like to take this opportunity to 
remember Doug here today.
   Doug was my cousin; so I had the privilege to interact with him over 
the years and watch a young man with challenges grow into a man of 
accomplishment. Throughout his life, Doug helped us appreciate the 
surroundings around us that we typically did not see or have time for. 
From an early age, Doug was diagnosed with a debilitating condition 
that doctors told his family would cause him never to walk and affect 
his learning abilities. Doug's determination helped him overcome the 
odds facing him, eventually learning to walk and graduating from 
Boulder High School to a standing ovation.
   Doug was an accomplished student, a class president, and would later 
work in the medical industry making medical devices. Another passion of 
his was designing and constructing tree houses. Doug could be found 
traveling between lumberyards asking for discarded lumber, and using 
tree branches as a ladder, climbed up to build elaborate homes in the 
sky, oh he loved his tree house.
   Mr. Speaker, we are all terribly saddened by the loss of Doug 
Donnelly, but take comfort in the knowledge that our grief is 
overshadowed only by his legacy of courage and love of all that Doug 
left with all of us. Doug's overwhelming ability to live life to its 
fullest is a true testament to the man he was and serves as an 
inspiration for us all.

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