[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 194 (Tuesday, December 18, 2007)]
[House]
[Pages H16798-H16799]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




               HONORING THE MEMORY OF SPEAKER TOM MURPHY

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Gingrey) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. GINGREY. Madam Speaker, I rise tonight with a heavy heart, 
saddened by the loss of not only a constituent, but also one of the 
most important figures in Georgia government in the modern history of 
our State. Thomas Bailey Murphy of Bremen, Georgia, Speaker Tom Murphy, 
was called home to be with the Lord last night at 10 p.m.
  A native of Haralson County, Speaker Murphy was born on March 10, 
1924, to Leta Jones and William Harvey Murphy. A graduate of Bremen 
High School and North Georgia College, a young Tom Murphy heard the 
call of his country and he enlisted in the Navy during World War II. He 
served in the Pacific theater from 1943 to 1946.
  Upon his return home from World War II, Tom Murphy married the love 
of his life, Agnes Bennett, with whom he shared his life until her 
death in 1982. Soon after their marriage, Tom Murphy graduated from the 
University of Georgia School of Law.
  And then, Madam Speaker, in 1960, he followed in his brother's 
footsteps, winning election to the Georgia House of Representatives. In 
his first seven terms in the legislature, he had the opportunity to 
serve as the Governor's floor leader and as speaker pro tem until being 
elected as Speaker of the House in 1973. As Speaker of the Georgia 
House from 1974 to 2002, he served not only with distinction but also 
as the longest-serving State House Speaker throughout this entire 
country.
  While Speaker Murphy never forgot his rural roots or his 
constituency, he also recognized the importance of strengthening our 
entire State and fostering growth and economic opportunity in the 
capital city of Atlanta.
  During his tenure, Speaker Murphy fought for funding and sponsored 
the construction of the Georgia World Congress Center as well as the 
Georgia Dome, the largest cable-supported dome stadium in the entire 
world. Speaker Murphy also pushed for improved and increased funding 
for urban transit and suburban roads and freeways. He had the foresight 
to realize the need to invest not only in destination infrastructure 
but also in the roads, the buses and trains to get people there.
  While Speaker Murphy was a great advocate of his State and of all 
Georgians, to say he was partisan would be an understatement, Madam 
Speaker. He believed firmly in the principles of the old-guard Georgia 
Democratic Party, and he was vehemently loyal to those principles, his 
party and his members, even to his own personal and political 
detriment. In 2000, after over 40 years of service to his district, 
Speaker Murphy won by a narrow margin of about 500 votes in his 
Republican-trending west Georgia district. And yet later that year, 
during the decennial redistricting process, Speaker Murphy refused to 
make his district more Democratic and thus safer, refusing to risk the 
majorities of his fellow party members that served in contiguous 
districts and counties.
  So in the following election, Madam Speaker, he narrowly lost his 
seat, but he did so with his conscience intact because he remained 
loyal to his principles to the end.
  During my time in the Georgia senate, I had many opportunities to see 
Speaker Murphy in action. Though I certainly did not always agree with 
him, I always respected him, recognizing that above all, he exemplified 
the scriptural exhortation to ``let your yea be yea and your nay, 
nay.''
  Though his final years were made very difficult by incapacitating 
stroke,

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I know that in his heart and in his mind, he knew that he had served 
his State and the people of Georgia to the best of his ability; and, 
indeed, he served them and us with distinction.
  While I know that his son, Michael, daughters, Martha, Marjorie, Mary 
Jane, and all of the grandchildren will miss him dearly, they know that 
he longed for that reunion with his beloved Agnes. And I have no doubt 
that when he took his last breath, and he left this world, he was 
greeted with the words, Thy race is run. Welcome home, My good and 
faithful servant.

                          ____________________