[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 71 (Wednesday, May 12, 2010)]
[Senate]
[Page S3639]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
REMEMBERING CHARLES WILSON CAPPS, JR.
Mr. COCHRAN. Mr. President, the State of Mississippi lost one of its
most respected citizens and devoted public servants on December 25,
2009. Those of us who knew and worked with Charlie Capps were
privileged to witness his commitment to the advancement of our State. I
extend my sincerest sympathies to the family of Charlie Capps--Alinda,
Margaret, and Charlie III.
Charlie Capps was born in Merigold, MS, and graduated from Cleveland
High School. He attended Davidson College until the outbreak of World
War II, when he volunteered and enlisted in the U.S. Army.
After the war, Charlie founded Capps Insurance and Real Estate
Company. However, he was best known as ``Mr. Chairman'' because of his
service as chairman of the House Appropriations Committee in the
Mississippi legislature for more than a decade. During his tenure of
service in the Mississippi House of Representatives, he served with
four speakers of the House--John Junkin, Buddie Newman, Tim Ford, and
Billy McCoy.
Charlie Capps' greatest enjoyment was his association with public
service. During his career he was an effective advocate for law
enforcement, higher education, the arts and cultural heritage,
workforce training, agriculture, and wildlife and fisheries
conservation. Charlie Capps is clearly among our State's finest
citizens and certainly one of the most capable public servants of this
generation.
The State of Mississippi is a better place to live because of the
life of Charlie Capps, and I am privileged that I was able to call him
my friend.
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