[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 177 (Thursday, November 15, 2007)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E2452]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




       COMMEMORATING THE 90TH BIRTHDAY OF SENATOR ROBERT C. BYRD

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                         HON. NICK J. RAHALL II

                            of west virginia

                    in the house of representatives

                      Thursday, November 15, 2007

  Mr. RAHALL. Madam Speaker, on November 20, 1917, in Wilkesboro, North 
Carolina, the world received Cornelius Calvin Sale. Born to a poor, 
struggling couple, the child was too soon taken from the arms of his 
loving mother, when she fell victim to the devastating influenza 
epidemic. The loss of his mother separated him from his siblings and 
from his father, a man with talented hands and an honest heart, when he 
was sent to live with an aunt and uncle in the coalfields of southern 
West Virginia. There his name was changed and so was the course of 
history for my State and our Nation.
  This November 20 marks the 90th birthday of Robert C. Byrd. He holds 
the title of the longest-serving Senator in the history of our Nation. 
He has held more leadership positions than any other Senator, has cast 
more rollcall votes than any other Senator, and served on a Senate 
committee longer than any other Senator. In fact, he has achieved so 
many records during his tenure of public service that the Guinness 
people could devote an entire book just to him.
  Here in the Congress, Robert C. Byrd has seen majorities come and go. 
He has occupied the suite of the Majority Leader and been banished to 
the Elba of the Appropriations wing. He has felt the sting of 
legislative defeat, relished in legislative victory. He has watched 
good men, full of hope, come to the Congress and build long successful 
careers in public service. He has seen many ambitious men leave public 
life, sometimes bitter and frustrated, sometimes drawn to the big 
paychecks of the private sector. Through it all, his love of the U.S. 
Senate and his faith in our constitutional form of government has never 
wavered.
  In both his public and private lives, he has been guided by the old 
values he learned growing up in the West Virginia hills, reading the 
Bible, and listening to his ``old Mom's'' prayers, offered up in dim 
lantern light.
  And he has been the most devoted of husbands. In fact, he remains so. 
Even after his dear Erma left this Earth to become an angel in Heaven, 
his love for her--true love--has endured and bolstered him in times of 
trial.
  So much has been written, so many speeches delivered, about the 
senior Senator from West Virginia, that it may be a fool's errand to 
even try to say anything about him that has not been repeated many 
times over. However, in anticipation of this special occasion, I choose 
to mention one particular thing for which the people of our State are 
most grateful to him--Robert C. Byrd has given us the gift of hope.
  From his youthful days of coal camp life in an era of depression, 
through his climb to the pinnacle of governmental power, Robert C. 
Byrd's life has been and remains an inspiration to me and to every man, 
woman, and child who has ever doubted themselves, or been afraid to try 
to overcome life's considerable challenges. He is our hero.
  Madam Speaker, I thank the Creator for Senator Byrd and all that he 
has done for this Nation. May he have the happiest of birthdays, and 
may he some day look back on his 90th year as just one notch on his way 
to scoring yet another amazing record.

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