[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 83 (Tuesday, May 20, 2008)]
[Senate]
[Page S4482]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




               REMEMBERING DR. RUFUS JUDSON PEARSON, JR.

 Mr. STEVENS. Mr. President, Dr. Rufus Judson Pearson, Jr., of 
Southern Pines, NC, passed away in Tamarac, Fl. on Sunday, May 11, 2008 
after a prolonged illness and went to be with the Lord and to the side 
of his beloved wife, Emily.
  Dr. Pearson, the former attending physician to the U.S. Congress, was 
born in Atlanta, GA, October 8, 1915, the son of Rufus J. Pearson, 
M.D., and Myrtle Padgett of Richland, GA. He attended the University of 
Florida and received his doctor of medicine degree from Emory 
University in 1938 at the age of 22. He trained at Kings County 
Hospital in Brooklyn and at Grady Hospital in Atlanta and subsequently 
had a year of intensive training in cardiovascular Diseases offered by 
Harvard Medical School at the Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, 
under the tutelage of renowned cardiologist Dr. Paul Dudley White.
  Dr. Pearson was fellow of the American College of Physicians, the 
American College of Cardiology, the Scientific Council, American Heart 
Association, and member, American Medical Association. He was certified 
by the American Board of Internal Medicine and by the Sub-specialty 
Board in Cardiovascular Disease.
  In May of 1939, following first year of internship, he married the 
former Emily Virginia Timmerman of Atlanta, GA, whom he met during his 
first year as a medical student at Emory.
  During World War II, he served overseas as a naval medical officer, 
and after the war, he entered the private practice of internal medicine 
in Jacksonville, FL. Shortly after the outbreak of the Korean crisis in 
1950, he was recalled to Active Duty and subsequently decided to make 
the Navy a career.
  He rose to prominence in the Medical Corps while serving as chief of 
cardiology at the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, MD, from 
1955 to 1961 during the period when open-heart surgery was being 
pioneered. He later served as chief of medicine at the Naval Hospitals 
in Charleston, SC and Portsmouth, VA. In 1965, he returned to the al 
Hospital at Bethesda to serve as director of clinical services and 
chief of medicine. To each of these assignments, he brought a high 
level of professional competence, coupled with dynamic leadership, 
drive and imagination.
  In 1966, at the request of speaker John McCormack and Senate majority 
leader Mike Mansfield and by joint concurrence of both the U.S. House 
of Representatives and the U.S. Senate, Dr. Pearson was assigned as the 
attending physician to Congress, a position he held for almost 7 years 
and only the second physician to ever hold that post. He brought to 
this unique position exceptional skill, innovation, and farsighted 
leadership, effecting numerous improvements to the health care delivery 
system in the Capitol complex. He was highly regarded by Members of the 
House and Senate, not only as skilled physician, but also as a friend 
and confidant to many, earning the respect of the Nation's legislators 
and their staffs.
  On numerous occasions--his praises by Members of the House and Senate 
were made a matter of record in the Congressional Record. On such 
comment offered by Senator Aiken from Vermont is quoted in the Record:

       Dr. Pearson will probably be missed as much as anyone who 
     as ever has worked in the Capitol. It did not matter what we 
     called him. We started out calling him ``Admiral,'' and 
     pretty soon we called him ``Doctor.'' Finally, he got to be 
     known as ``Jud'' and his wife as Emily. They certainly are 
     people with whom we could be very proud to have worked.

  And another quote from Senator Mansfield of Montana:

       Dr. Pearson has created a medical facility in the Capitol 
     that is almost unequaled. His main purpose was our health and 
     well being, but also he was there to offer his friendship and 
     advice whether it be for us, our families, or our staffs. No 
     task was too great, no hours too late, no burden too heavy 
     for ``Jud'' Pearson. . . . Dr. Pearson's integrity, 
     dedication, and deep devotion have been the cause of his 
     excellence in his present position.

  He was chosen to accompany the majority leader and minority leader of 
the Senate on their historic trip to China in 1972 and was at that time 
one the first few American physicians to enter China since World War 
II. For his exceptional service to the country while serving at the 
U.S. Capitol, the President of the United States presented him with the 
Distinguished Service Medal. Following his retirement in 1973, the 
Pearsons retired to the Sandhills area of North Carolina.
  Dr. Pearson was a most enthusiastic golfer and a member of Columbia 
Country Club and the Whispering Pines Country Club. He was also a 
highly skilled and avid bridge player and was invited to participate as 
a member of the Wolves Club in Southern Pines.
  Dr. Pearson was a marvelous and compassionate physician-scholar as 
well as skilled in his profession. He was a wonderful father and strong 
patriarch, both generous and kind. But friends and relatives alike will 
attest that his many significant contributions and achievements pale in 
comparison to the remarkable example he set as a devoted husband to his 
beloved wife Emily, to whom he was united in marriage for 67 years, 
loving her, cherishing her and caring for her until her death at the 
age of 91. Theirs was truly a marriage made in heaven.
  He is survived by his daughter, Mrs. Virginia P. Sudders of Tamarac, 
FL, and his son, CPT Rufus J. Pearson, III, and daughter-in-law, 
Elizabeth Pearson, of Wheaton, IL; eight grandchildren: Rufus Judson 
Pearson, IV, Matthew Allen Pearson, Andrew Clinton Pearson, Mrs. 
Kathryn Elizabeth Pearson Dickson, Mrs. Amy Sudders Wilke, Mrs. Barbara 
Sudders Andrade, Ms. Marylou Sudders, Mrs. Susan Sudders Kuper; and 
nine great-grandchildren.

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