[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 56 (Tuesday, May 3, 2005)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E848]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                TRIBUTE TO THE LATE DR. NSIDIBE N. IKPE

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. KENDRICK B. MEEK

                               of florida

                    in the house of representatives

                          Tuesday, May 3, 2005

  Mr. MEEK of Florida. Mr. Speaker, it is with great pride--but wit 
deep sorrow--that I rise to pay tribute to the late Dr. Nsidibe N. 
Ikpe, one of my community's quiet unsung heroes. On Saturday, May 7, 
2005, he will be memorialized during a service to be held at Miami's 
Glendale Missionary Baptist Church.
  Born on February 18, 1949 in the village of Ndiya, Akwa Ibom State, 
Nigeria, West Africa, he was the first son of Chief Nelson Ikpe and 
Arit Akpan Uko. His genuine character as an industrious youth paved the 
way to his becoming one of the most accomplished professionals of 
Nigeria.
  Married to Helen Roberts of Nigeria in 1969, Dr. Ikpe immigrated to 
the United States to pursue higher education. He supported himself with 
odd jobs and was soon employed by the Boy Scouts of America, where he 
won several accolades. It was while he served as a custodian in a 
psychiatric hospital in Iowa that he was inspired by the work of the 
doctors there and decided to pursue a career in medicine.
  Entering Washburn University in Topeka, Kansas, he earned his 
Doctorate of Medicine and completed his internship and residency at 
Westchester General Hospital in Des Moines, Iowa. Afterwards, he 
established the Legion Park Medical Center in Miami, and expanded his 
practice to three more community clinics in South Florida at which he 
treated over 50,000 patients. It is this commitment that endeared him 
to our community, and it is with this remembrance that he will be 
sorely missed as one of our preeminent minority physicians. Though a 
highly private individual, he virtually consecrated his professional 
life to public service. In so doing, he symbolized everything that is 
good and noble about the spirit of idealism and optimism in serving his 
fellow man, particularly the downtrodden and less fortunate.
  The numerous accolades he received during his lifetime buttress the 
unequivocal testimony of the gratitude and respect he enjoyed from the 
community. I am deeply privileged to have enjoyed his friendship, and I 
now join our community in remembering his giving spirit and the 
magnificent works that emanated from his boundless heart.

                          ____________________