[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 102 (Friday, July 28, 2006)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1601-E1602]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    TRIBUTE TO EUGENE THOMAS KENNEDY

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. MARK R. KENNEDY

                              of minnesota

                    in the house of representatives

                         Friday, July 28, 2006

  Mr. KENNEDY of Minnesota. Mr. Speaker, as my father approaches his 
80th birthday, I would like to share with my colleagues how he has 
brightened the lives of so many with his conversational Irish wit, 
passion for life and genuine interest in other people.
  Eugene Thomas Kennedy descended from immigrants who came from Ireland 
at the time of the potato famine. They settled for a period in Kentucky 
and Illinois before pioneering Minnesota in 1863. The Kennedy's 
originally settled in what today is called Savage, Minnesota, then 
called Hamilton Falls, later settling in Decorah Township near St. 
Clair, south of Mankato, before moving to Murdock at the turn of the 
century.
  Eugene was born August 22, 1926 to Charles, a businessman and 
longtime mayor of Murdock, Minnesota and Rose, the daughter of a Swift 
County Commissioner Joe Cannon. Joe Cannon's name is inscribed on the 
1890's Swift County Courthouse in Benson, Minnesota that issued the 
birth certificates for both my father and me. Eugene grew up and 
initially raised his own family in the home that his parents built 
right across the street from the Sacred Heart Church in Murdock, where 
I was baptized. His family sat every Sunday near his grandfather 
Francis Kennedy's stained glass window just across from the front pew 
at Sacred Heart. Eugene graduated from Murdock High School in 1944, 
took some courses at the University of Minnesota and a junior 
accounting course at Mankato Commercial College.
  His father and grandfather taught Eugene to face adversities head on. 
His grandfather became blind when he was my age, but kept informed by 
having his son, Charles, read him the paper every day and later, even 
though blind and in his 70's, moved his family to Murdock, Minnesota 
for more land for his children. His father Charles took over the livery 
stable in Murdock. During the pneumonia epidemic of 1918 that killed 
more people than any war, as liveryman he courageously transported and 
assisted Murdock's doctor to aid the ill. When the automobile put his 
livery out of business, Charles did not seek a government handout, he 
started trucking livestock instead. Later in his life, Eugene tackled 
adversity head on himself.
  As the youngest of four sons, Eugene was a self-proclaimed momma's 
boy. He learned to cook a few dishes growing up in the kitchen with 
Rose. The country wisdom he gained participating in many kitchen table 
conversations with the neighbors shaped his life. Rose was a woman of 
action. She went to see her Maker in action--weeding her garden, 
something she loved to do, but not before instilling in her descendents 
a belief that it is noble to tend not just your own garden, but also 
your corner of the world, so the community's flowers might also 
blossom. Eugene took up his hoe to cultivate a more bountiful harvest 
in the community he adopted to raise his family--Pequot Lakes.
  On September 21st of last year, commemorating my mother's 75th 
birthday, I spoke of

[[Page E1602]]

my parents meeting and raising their children and will not repeat that 
today, but I will share with you the many things that my father taught 
his children and grandchildren.
  Eugene built on his parent's commitment to service. He served on the 
Pequot Lakes Public School Board for 27 years, including the period 
when it built an entirely new K-12 campus. He helped lead the committee 
to build a new church building for St. Alice Catholic Church. He helped 
my mother found what became the largest 4-H Club in the county. As a 
member of the Chamber of Commerce's 4th of July Committee, he helped 
build Pequot's Independence Day celebration into one of Minnesota's 
best.
  He instilled in us a love of work. In 1947, he began working at the 
First State Bank of Murdock, where he remembers emptying the spittoons 
and posting the daily numbers in pen and ink in a general ledger as big 
as the Guttenberg Bible perched on a high desk. Later he worked at 
banks in Golva and Hunter, North Dakota. Moving to Pequot Lakes in 
1961, Eugene joined the independent insurance agency of Farmer's State 
Bank, later Lakeland State Bank. The six employees there shared one 
telephone and one typewriter. The employees, just like in an old 
western movie, were barricaded behind bulletproof glass and metal 
framing. The bank and agency grew rapidly in this resort community.
  He taught us to give work your all. You got more than insurance when 
Eugene was your agent; you got conversation and advice. The president 
of a large Minnesota company fondly remembers getting car insurance as 
a kid from Eugene. Eugene patiently explained why the insurance on his 
old beater of a car cost more than the car itself. He really 
appreciated the way Eugene was genuinely interested in him and took the 
time to simplify the mysteries of insurance for a teenager.
  He exhibited to his own children the need to meet adversity head on. 
Just before his retirement from the bank insurance agency in Pequot 
Lakes, the FDIC came in one Friday afternoon, shut the bank down, and 
reopened it on Monday as a different bank. Having lost his pension and 
with three of his seven kids still at home and two more still in 
college, he started anew. At age 65, he took his experience of 
inspecting properties for insurance purposes, became a Certified 
Residential Real Estate Appraiser and started a business as a real 
estate appraiser, where he still works today with two employees.
  He taught us to listen. They say that everyone can brighten up a 
room, some when they enter, some when they leave. My father brightens 
up a room when he enters, and then never leaves. Some leave without 
saying goodbye, my father says goodbye without leaving. We were always 
the last to leave church every Sunday.
  My father taught us his trademark handshake that he learned from his 
co-worker at his first job. He passes on his technique to all his 
grandkids--reach out your hand, lean forward, look them in the eye with 
a smile on your face and give a firm handshake. It is nearly impossible 
for a visitor to attend St. Alice Catholic Church in Pequot without 
meeting Eugene Kennedy. Whenever I met people in a three county area, 
the response often was, ``Oh, you're Gene's boy.''
  He demonstrated to us a love of family and those whom others ignored. 
Eugene had two elderly first cousins, sisters who never married and 
lived together in St. Paul--Fran and Mugs Kenney. They both served in 
the military during World War II and both worked for West Publishing. 
My father made a special point of visiting them regularly and 
encouraged us to do so as well. With so many children in our family, 
major events sometimes were everyday occurrences. But, I will still 
never forget Debbie and I calling our parents to tell them that we were 
getting married. After talking with my mother, who was very excited, I 
ask my father if he had any comments. His only comment was, ``Have you 
seen Fran and Mugs recently?'' Clearly, taking time to spend with 
seniors and other often overlooked people was a key value he instilled.
  He passed down a love our Irish heritage. Kennedys are generally 
descended from Brian Boru who defeated the Vikings in the Battle of 
Clontarf in 1041, becoming the first king to unite all Ireland. My 
father and I were both born in a rural Minnesota town made up almost 
entirely of those of Irish descent. Murdock's sports teams were called 
the Irish. It was a rare treat to be able to go in 1982 with him, my 
mother and my wife on the first trip to Ireland by a Kennedy since 
Francis Kennedy came to America from Ireland in 1848. Even though my 
children are less Irish than I, they and their generation still 
inherited Eugene's infectious love of the Irish.
  He taught us to love America. Our family has two family days of 
obligation, when Kennedy's make every effort to return home--Christmas 
Eve and the 4th of July--the birthdays of our God and our Country. The 
4th of July is a very personal holiday for our family. My father never 
made much money, but he was proud of his country, proud of his 
community, Pequot Lakes, in the heart of Minnesota's lakes country, and 
proud of his family. And the 4th of July, when tourists headed to 
Pequot area lakes, is a celebration of all three for our family. My 
father was in charge of the 4th of July celebration at Pequot Lakes for 
many years and we children were often roped in to help. A few years 
back, we all gathered to watch the parade and it was pouring rain, but 
the parade went on. I will never forget seeing my father sitting in his 
lawn chair after all the prep work was done, at our customary spot just 
down from the reviewing stand on the flatbed trailer, with his cowboy 
hat on that my mother had tried repeatedly to take from him, sopping 
wet, surrounded by his seven kids and 27 grandkids, watching the parade 
go by--the bands, the beauty queens, and then standing up and putting 
his hand over his heart as the veterans came marching down the street 
carrying the stars and stripes with the biggest smile I can ever 
remember seeing on him. My father's infectious spirit taught us to live 
the spirit of the 4th of July every day--family, community, a strong 
America and Freedom.
  He imparted on us the importance of prayer. We regularly knelt down 
as a family to say the Rosary, often upstairs by our family's shrine to 
the Infant Jesus of Prague. When my Hereford cows Priscilla and Modesty 
got out and could not be found, I distinctly remember praying with him 
to St. Jude, the patron Saint of lost causes, and thankfully they were 
found. You can often find my father praying a Rosary by his bed early 
in the morning when you wake up, or if left alone for any period of 
time riding in a car. I fondly remember him coming into our bedroom 
when we were young and saying nightly prayers with my three brothers 
and me who shared a bedroom.

  Eugene Kennedy has been recognized for his community service on a 
number of occasions, including receiving the Big Heart Community Award 
in 1988, where people voted at the Northern National Bank on their 
choice to receive the award and being named Outstanding Senior Citizen 
for Crow Wing County. This year he also received a statewide 
appraiser's award and recognition by the Minnesota Independent 
Insurance Agents for a lifetime of achievement. Eugene continues to be 
active in the community, starting a 50+ Club at St. Alice and serving 
on the advisory board for the Minnesota Board on Aging.
  Finally, on a lighthearted note, my father taught us to love dessert. 
Every dinner had to have dessert, even if that meant sharing a can of 
pears. On the occasion of his 80th birthday, I would like to recognize 
that my father's life has indeed been dessert for so many people who 
upon meeting him get a break from having to eat their vegetables and 
relish in his rich sense of humor and focused attention on them. Happy 
Birthday, Dad!

                          ____________________