[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 84 (Wednesday, May 21, 2008)]
[Senate]
[Page S4616]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   TRIBUTE TO HAROLD ``SHORTY'' DORN

  Mr. SMITH. Mr. President, Albert Einstein once said, ``It is 
the supreme art of the teacher to awaken joy in creative expression and 
knowledge.'' I wish today to pay tribute to the life and legacy of an 
Oregonian who devoted his career to that supreme art and, in doing so, 
made a priceless contribution to the field of journalism.
  Harold ``Shorty'' Dorn passed away in Reston, VA, last week at 83 
years of age. Like countless others of his ``greatest generation,'' 
Shorty proudly wore the uniform of our country during World War II. He 
entered the U.S. Marine Corps in 1943 and served in the Pacific until 
the end of the war.
  Upon returning home, Shorty earned his college degree and began 
nearly four decades of service as a college professor. Generations of 
Oregonians are fortunate because the vast majority of Shorty's career 
was spent at two of my State's outstanding institutions of higher 
learning--10 years at Eastern Oregon University in LaGrande and 23 
years in the Department of Journalism at Oregon State University in 
Corvallis.
  Professor Dorn was admired and respected by his students for his 
intelligence, his integrity, his warm humor, his trademark quips, and 
for the fact that he genuinely cared about them and their future. 
Shorty's commitment to his students did not end upon their graduation, 
and many continued to call on him for advice and counsel as they moved 
on in their careers.
  Just as Shorty was devoted to his students, he was also devoted to 
his family--to his wife Ethel and to his two daughters, Jenna and 
Lorah. Upon retirement from Oregon State University, Shorty and Ethel 
moved to Reston, VA, so he could be closer to his daughters, who were 
both building distinguished careers of service. He also discovered that 
one of the best parts of retirement was the time he had to be a 
wonderful grandfather to his two grandsons, Jon and Ben.
  Mr. President, it was once said that, ``In a completely rational 
society, the best of us would be teachers and the rest of us would have 
to settle for something less.'' Shorty Dorn was certainly one of the 
best of us, and I extend my condolences to his family and 
friends.

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