[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 27 (Wednesday, March 9, 2005)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E390]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




          IN HONOR OF TILLIE FOWLER, FORMER MEMBER OF CONGRESS

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                             HON. DAVE CAMP

                              of michigan

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, March 8, 2005

  Mr. CAMP. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to the life and 
legacy of the honorable Tillie Kidd Fowler. Mrs. Fowler was a 
distinguished member of this House from 1993 to 2000. She was a 
personal friend and someone who I admired greatly.
  Tillie was as good a Representative as this House has seen. She was 
tenacious in the defense of her constituents; principled to a point; 
and, willing to listen to any good argument.
  Raised in an era when professional women were passed over regardless 
of qualifications for their male counterparts, Tillie used her sharp 
intellect to climb to the highest levels of government and public 
service; and our Nation is the better for it.
  Today, as we grapple with how best to defend our Nation against the 
threats of the 21st Century, each of us in the public arena will have 
to double our efforts in order to fill the knowledge void created by 
Tillie's absence. We all relied on her keen insights and the 
significance of her efforts to rebuild our Nation's military and 
maintain the world's most elite armed services cannot be understated.
  While I could go on and on about Tillie's policy successes as a 
United States Representative and later as Chairwoman of the Defense 
Policy Board Advisory Committee, it is her work off this floor that I 
will miss most. When the day's work was done, Tillie had an amazing 
ability to cut through the clutter and remind you what matters most; to 
keep you focused; and, to give you a renewed sense of energy with which 
to tackle the issues of the day.
  Just as she was in life, her memory will continue to serve as an 
inspiration to all of us who knew her. May God receive and keep her, 
and hold her family close in their days of mourning.

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