[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 184 (Tuesday, December 4, 2007)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E2464-E2465]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 IN HONOR OF CONGRESSMAN JACK BRINKLEY

                                 ______
                                 

                      HON. SANFORD D. BISHOP, JR.

                               of georgia

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, December 4, 2007

  Mr. BISHOP of Georgia. Madam Speaker, I rise to honor former 
Congressman Jack Brinkley, who was recently honored by the Muscogee 
County Democratic party with the creation of the Jack T. Brinkley 
Service Award.
  From his humble beginnings in the community of Faceville, GA, where 
he and his three sisters were raised by a single mother, Pauline 
Brinkley, who worked as a lunchroom supervisor in Decatur County 
schools, Jack Brinkley went on to become a distinguished attorney, 
State Representative, and U.S. Representative for the third district of 
Georgia. Jack was quoted recently saying ``Our mother always held her 
head up high and worked hard.'' Jack also learned to work hard and 
developed a work ethic that has followed him throughout his life.
  After high school, Jack went from southwest to north Georgia where he 
attended Young Harris College with two other future luminaries of 
public service: Former Congressman Ed Jenkins and former Lt. Governor, 
Governor, and Senator Zell Miller. There must have been something in 
the water at Young Harris, because it truly nourished the seed of 
service in its students.
  Graduating from Young Harris, Jack became a teacher for 2 years, 
joined the Air Force as a pilot during the Korean Conflict, and 
returned to receive his law degree at the University of Georgia under 
the GI Bill. During the same year, he met and married the former

[[Page E2465]]

Lois Kite of Phenix City, AL, and eventually moved to Columbus in 1964 
to start his law practice.
  Shortly thereafter, he was elected to the Georgia House, and 2 years 
later he was elected to Congress from the third district, eventually 
serving the second longest term of any third-district Congressman since 
the Civil War. When he retired, he was the senior member of the Georgia 
House Delegation and a prominent member of the Armed Services and 
Veteran Affairs Committees, providing much-needed support to Fort 
Benning, the Robins Air Force Base, and the thousands of veterans in 
the area. His constituent services were without equal.
  When Jack campaigned, he promised to ``remember who I am; where I'm 
from, and who sent me.'' He believed in the Christian principles of 
friendship, made it a point to remember names, heal misunderstandings, 
and never miss opportunities to express congratulations or sympathy. 
Madam Speaker, it is my privilege to know the Honorable Jack Brinkley, 
and I commend and thank him for his many years of public service.

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