[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 110 (Wednesday, September 15, 2004)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1644]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       TRIBUTE TO PHILIP ROSEMAN

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. JOHN S. TANNER

                              of tennessee

                    in the house of representatives

                     Wednesday, September 15, 2004

  Mr. TANNER. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay special tribute to a 
long time friend of mine, a great Tennessean, and an outstanding 
American, Philip Roseman. Phil recently celebrated his 86th Birthday on 
August 30th, in Nashville.
  Philip Roseman was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, to parents who 
had immigrated from the Ukraine and Romania. On that day, August 30, 
1918, the doctor that came to his parents' house to deliver the baby, 
forgot to register the birth for a month. The family has always 
celebrated his birthday on August 30th but official records indicate he 
was born on September 30th. It was only when he signed up to go into 
the military in 1942 that he discovered his ``official'' birthday.
  As a youth, Phil attended local Cambridge schools and graduated from 
Cambridge High and Latin. For a while he played for the Boston Braves 
on their farm team but eventually went into the newspaper business. He 
became a sports reporter and advertising editor for a local Cambridge 
newspaper.
  When the attack on Pearl Harbor occurred, he immediately volunteered 
for service and was sent to England as part of the Army Air Force, 
834th Engineer Battalion. There he helped build a secret air base in a 
small hamlet called Matching Green. He also served as an aide to the 
colonel. Just before the invasion of Normandy, he was sent back to the 
United States. He stayed in Brooklyn and trained in intelligence 
surveillance. After mustering out of the service, Phil married Nettie 
Weiss of Brooklyn.
  About this time, articles about the ``sunbelt'' captured the young 
man's imagination. Thinking of the prospects of plentiful energy and 
labor resources and the chance to start his own business, Phil climbed 
into his eleven-year-old Packard in 1948 and set a course south. He 
literally ran out of gas in Union City, Tennessee where he found 
genuinely friendly and helpful people. He knew right away the South was 
where he wanted to stay.
  His plan was to start a garment factory making jackets. After asking 
around, he decided to approach the townfathers of tiny Trimble, 
Tennessee, population approximately 400. They listened to this young 
man from the North and showed their confidence in the spunky and 
likeable ``New England Yankee'' by pledging $100,000 to finance a 
factory that would bring employment opportunities to this farming 
community.
  Hard work and dedication soon led to success. By 1955, Phil had 
outgrown the original plant at Trimble and needed to relocate and 
expand. He again approached the townfathers but this time in Hickman, 
Kentucky and convinced them he had a viable industry that would offer 
townspeople employment. That plant, too, became very successful. 
Eventually he started a third plant in Ridgely, Tennessee. He also ran 
outlet stores in the region. During the Viet Nam War, his plants 
supplied military outerwear. In all, he employed over 700 people in the 
West Tennessee region.
  Phil Roseman was successful not just in his business. He and his 
wife, Nettie, had three children who grew up to become successful 
professionals, one of whom is a nationally known doctor. His wife 
worked alongside him for fifty years building their business. She died 
shortly after their retirement and move to Nashville. He has recently 
remarried and lives in Nashville.
  The greatest tributes to this man are the loving memories that 
family, friends and former employees are quick to share about his 
unlimited kindness, his gentle nature and his unfailing cheerful 
disposition. This is how I remember Phil Roseman and I know many others 
do also.




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