[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 18 (Thursday, February 17, 2005)]
[House]
[Page H777]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




MOURNING THE LOSS AND CELEBRATING THE LIVES OF THREE PROMINENT CHICAGO 
                                CITIZENS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Davis of Kentucky). Under a previous 
order of the House, the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Davis) is 
recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. DAVIS of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the gentlewoman 
from North Carolina (Ms. Foxx) for giving me the opportunity to make 
these comments prior to the hour that she will be using on behalf of 
the majority.
  Mr. Speaker, this week, residents of Chicago lost three of its most 
prominent citizens. Earlier today, the funeral was held for a blues 
singer, a fellow named Tyrone Davis, who has had great popular songs 
such as ``Mom's Apple Pie'' and ``Turn Back the Hands of Time.'' Tyrone 
grew up in Mississippi, rural Mississippi, as a matter of fact, not far 
from Greenville. He came to Chicago and ultimately became one of the 
top recording artists in the country. He also happens to be a resident 
of the neighborhood that I come from. He came and lived on the west 
side of the city of Chicago and interacted in the night clubs and blues 
joints before he rose to the top.

                              {time}  1530

  And so I simply want to express condolences to the wife and family of 
Tyrone Davis, great blues singer. We also lost this week attorney Earl 
Neal, one of the most accomplished lawyers that the country has ever 
seen.
  Earl distinguished himself as a great attorney, great trial lawyer, 
but also was actively engaged and involved in civics and community 
affairs, chairman of the board of trustees of the University of 
Illinois, his alma mater; chairman of the University of Illinois Alumni 
Association; and also chairman of the Urban Health Program, where, 
through his efforts, the University of Illinois trained more African 
American physicians and dentists than any college or university in the 
Nation, with the exception of Howard and Meharry.
  And so certainly we want to extol our condolences to Earl's wife, 
Isabella, his son, attorney Langdon Neal, and other members of his 
family.
  And finally Milton Davis, who was chairman of Shorebank, little group 
of people got together, started a bank, they called it south Shorebank. 
It emerged as the number-one community lending institution in the 
Nation. Right now its assets are more than a billion dollars, and 
Milton Davis and I collaborated, and he put a bank in the neighborhood 
where I lived, called the Austin branch of Shorebank.
  So I simply want to express condolences to his wife and family, and 
all of those who are associated with Shorebank, one of the top 
community lending institutions in the Nation, on the life and legacy of 
Milton Davis, its former president and chairman.
  Mr. Speaker, I take this opportunity to commend the life and work of 
one of America's most skilled, most effective and most influential 
lawyers, Attorney Earl Neal. Over the years, I have often heard Earl 
Neal referred to as a lawyer's lawyer or as the city's expert on may 
issues, no matter who the mayor or city's management might have been 
composed of. I have been involved in court cases and litigation where I 
was on one side and Earl was on the other. In each instance, although 
we were (in fact adversaries) I always found myself wishing that we 
were on the same side. There were instances where we were on the same 
side of issues and I always had the highest level of assurance that 
were being represented as well as humanely possible.
  In addition to being an outstanding lawyer, Earl and his wife 
Isabella were prominent civic and social leaders in the State of 
Illinois. He was intimately associated with his alma matter, the 
University of Illinois serving on the Board of Trustees, President of 
the Alumni Association and Chairman of the Urban Health Advisory 
Council which resulted in the University of Illinois training more 
African American physicians and dentists than any medical school in the 
USA with the exception of Howard and Meharry.
  To Mrs. Neal and Attorney Langdon Neal and other members of the 
family, you have the heartfelt condolences of myself, my wife, Vera and 
our entire family. Earl has been as Harold Washington would say, 
``fruit of the loom, best of the breed, in a class by himself.''

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