[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 34 (Wednesday, March 10, 2010)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E350]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    REMEMBERING MANUS ``JACK'' FISH

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. FRANK R. WOLF

                              of virginia

                    in the house of representatives

                       Wednesday, March 10, 2010

  Mr. WOLF. Madam Speaker, I come to the floor today to share the sad 
news of the passing of Manus ``Jack'' Fish. An engineer by profession, 
Jack worked for almost four decades at the National Park Service here 
in Washington, serving from 1973 until his retirement in 1988 as the 
director of the National Capital Region. Jack, one of my constituents 
from Ashburn, Virginia, died on February 27 at the age of 81 following 
a stroke.
  I had the pleasure of first working with Jack Fish in the early 
1970's when I served in the Interior Department under Secretary Rogers 
C.B. Morton and he was at the Park Service. When I came to Congress in 
1981, our working relationship continued, and Jack was instrumental in 
the approval of a safety improvement plan I had recommended at the 
merge of the Spout Run Parkway and the George Washington Memorial 
Parkway, the first federal parkway and gateway to the nation's capital.
  Jack was the epitome of a public servant. He loved his job and made 
it his life's work to maintain and beautify and preserve the grounds 
that encompass the vast national capital region--from the gardens to 
the memorials to the Mall to the parks--for every resident and visitor 
of this area to enjoy.
  We express our condolences to his wife of 58 years, Rosemary Fish, 
their 12 children, 42 grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren, and 
we remember Jack Fish with these biblical words: ``Well done, good and 
faithful servant.''
  Madam Speaker, I submit an obituary for Jack Fish published in the 
Washington Post on March 4.

                [From the Washington Post, Mar. 4, 2010]

     Manus ``Jack'' Fish, 81, Dies; Led National Park Service Work

                         (By Patricia Sullivan)

       Manus ``Jack'' Fish, 81, the National Park Service regional 
     director who oversaw the heavily trafficked National Mall, 
     expanded the Civil War battlefield at Manassas and supervised 
     the planting of 150,000 trees and millions of flowers in the 
     parks and byways of greater Washington, died after a stroke 
     Feb. 27 at Heritage Hall nursing and rehabilitation center in 
     Leesburg.
       Mr. Fish led the Park Service's complex and diverse 
     National Capital Region, whose holdings include historic 
     memorials, the 185 mile-long C&O Canal, an urban sports 
     complex, Civil War battlefields, the White House and two 
     major highways. His office granted 1,000 permits a year for 
     demonstrations including a one-person crusade for ``husband 
     liberation'' as well as the hundreds of thousands who gather 
     for the Fourth of July celebrations between the Capitol and 
     Washington Monument. He was the regional director from 1973 
     to 1988 after working three years as the deputy.
       A diplomatic and unflappable engineer, Mr. Fish worked for 
     the Park Service for 36 years, based the entire time in 
     Washington. He helped design playground swings and the 
     Roosevelt Bridge and became a regular presence on Capitol 
     Hill, either appearing at hearings or reassuring his hundreds 
     of Congressional bosses that, yes, he was dealing with the 
     timing of lights on Spout Run at George Washington Parkway or 
     trying to resolve who would pay for a leaking roof at the 
     Kennedy Center.
       ``I've got to study issues in detail,'' he told a 
     Washington Post reporter in 1978. ``And I guess I like that. 
     If I didn't, I'd have ulcers and high blood pressure.''
       His nighttime studying was done in a household of a dozen 
     children, with television, radio, stereos and phone 
     conversations swirling around him. His wife of 58 years, 
     Rosemary Fish, was ``kind of a short-order cook,'' he joked, 
     adept at managing the comings and goings of the brood.
       In addition to his wife of Ashburn, survivors include 12 
     children, M. John Fish of Herndon, Theresa Grooms of 
     Leesburg, Mary Ann LaRock of Gambrills, Joan Rowe of Irmo, 
     S.C., Peter Fish of Huntsville, Ala., Christine Behrmann of 
     Troy, N.Y., Helen Kokolakis of Falls Church, and Kathleen 
     Key, Rosemary Burke, Brigid Powell and Bernadette Ishmael, 
     all of Ashburn; a brother; a sister; 42 grandchildren; and 
     nine great-grandchildren.
       After leaving the Park Service in 1988, Mr. Fish worked for 
     10 years as vice president at the West Group, a local real 
     estate developer, and was chairman of the Parks & History 
     Association, which operates 25 bookstores in the national 
     parks. He also served on numerous boards and was a member of 
     St. Theresa Catholic Church in Ashburn.
       A native of Trenton, N.J., Manus John Fish Jr. moved to 
     Washington as a youth and graduated from St. John's College 
     High School. He served in the Army in Korea between World War 
     II and the Korean War, then returned to Washington and 
     graduated from Catholic University with a degree in 
     engineering. He began working for the Park Service in 1952, 
     reporting to the stone engineer's office near the Washington 
     Monument.
       In pursuit of his duties, he rode in countless parades, 
     mastering horseback riding in two days in order to accompany 
     a member of Congress on a tour of one of the parks, and 
     learned to iceskate overnight when a skating rink opened on 
     the Mall. ``I was able to stay on the horse, and I kind of 
     skated on my ankles,'' he told a Post reporter in 1988.
       He also managed 3,000 employees and oversaw an annual 
     operating budget of $100 million. During his tenure, 
     Constitution Gardens and the Vietnam Veterans Memorial opened 
     on the Mall; handicapped-accessible entrances were added to 
     many memorials, and Wolf Trap's Filene Center was rebuilt. It 
     was his decision to close Beach Drive in Rock Creek Park to 
     vehicles on weekends and holidays, to close and grass over 
     two streets on the Mall and to eliminate nine holes from a 
     36-hole golf course in East Potomac Park to expand an 
     adjacent softball field, a decision that did not stand under 
     fierce protests from golfers.
       He made maintenance and preservation a priority and 
     struggled for additional appropriations for repairs, which 
     forced him to reduce grass cutting and put off hiring Park 
     Police officers. He received the Interior Department's 
     Distinguished Service Medal for guiding the expansion of the 
     parks, especially during the 1976 Bicentennial year.
       ``There remains much to be done,'' he said upon his 
     retirement.
       So long did he hold the politically sensitive ``fish-bowl'' 
     job that he, too, is memorialized. If you're at the Tidal 
     Basin next month when the cherry blossoms bloom, take a look 
     at the Ohio Drive bridge. You'll find some gargoyles sculpted 
     into the stone. The fish creature is a caricature of the Park 
     Service's Mr. Fish.

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