[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 192 (Thursday, December 17, 2009)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E3054]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      TRIBUTE TO MR. JAMES B. FARR

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. HOWARD L. BERMAN

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                      Wednesday, December 16, 2009

  Mr. BERMAN. Madam Speaker, on December 31, 2009, the House of 
Representatives will lose one of its most senior and valuable staff 
members--Mr. James B. Farr. Jim will be retiring after 38 years of 
service in the House of Representatives, during which time he served on 
the Committee on the Judiciary and, most recently, the Committee on 
Foreign Affairs, where he is the Financial Clerk.
  Thirty nine years ago, as a young man from southern Maryland, Jim 
decided to leave the tobacco farm founded by his grandfather and seek a 
job on Capitol Hill. This was quite an adventure for a country boy who 
had grown up tilling the land. Proudly, the farm is still in the 
family, but no longer grows tobacco.
  Following his graduation from Prince George's Community College with 
a degree in personnel and business management, Jim headed for 
Washington, D.C., where he landed on the doorstep of Congressman 
Emanuel Celler from Brooklyn and Queens, New York, the longtime former 
Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee. Jim was hired by Mrs. Dick, 
the Staff Director of the Committee, and began working as a clerk in 
the publications office where he sorted mail, answered the phones, 
referred bills and assisted in hearing preparation. It was shortly 
after his arrival on the Hill that he met his future wife, Christine 
Lynn Wills, who had moved to the Washington, D.C., area from West 
Virginia. Christine Lynn and Jim have been married for 31 years and 
have two lovely daughters--Michelle and Jennifer.
  Jim's career on the Hill also progressed. In February 1973, he became 
the Judiciary Committee's publications clerk, where he was responsible 
for maintaining the Committee's documents. Three years later, Jim was 
promoted to be the Committee's financial clerk where, under the 
guidance of the Committee Chairman, he prepared, maintained and oversaw 
the Committee's budget. Jim was so talented, and his services so highly 
prized, that he was retained by Chairmen Peter Rodino, Jack Brooks and 
Henry Hyde. In 2001, when the late Rep. Hyde became Chairman of what 
was then known as the House International Relations Committee, he asked 
Jim to move with him and serve as financial clerk for that Committee. 
There, Jim once again became an indispensable figure, helping to ensure 
the smooth functioning of the Committee and easing the transition to 
the late Chairman Tom Lantos and, subsequently, to me.
  Mr. Farr has served the Congress under both Democratic and Republican 
leadership with great distinction and integrity. His service epitomizes 
the finest qualities of government service. We are all grateful for 
that service and for the example he has provided to generations of new 
committee staff whom he has mentored. He will now retire and spend more 
time with his family and more time on the farm, where third and fourth 
generations of the Farr family now reside. Thankfully, despite his 
years of dedicated and impressive service, Jim wears his years easily, 
and we wish him much good will as he pursues his favorite hobbies of 
boating, fishing, and hunting.
  Good luck and thank you Jim from a grateful House of Representatives.

                          ____________________