[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 91 (Thursday, June 17, 2010)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5101-S5102]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      TRIBUTE TO HARRY MORGAN HOE

  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I rise to pay tribute to an honored 
Kentuckian, Mr. Harry Morgan Hoe. A graduate of the Kentucky Military 
Institute, Harry's leadership skill and valor were on full display at 
the age of 19, when he joined the 4th Infantry Division and stormed the 
beaches of Normandy. For his service, he was awarded both the Silver 
and Bronze Stars, among other medals. Upon returning to civilian life, 
Harry earned a degree in business and more importantly, at least to 
Harry, met his wife Mary while at college. The couple returned to 
Middlesboro after graduation and Harry joined in the family business--a 
foundry. He would go on to serve his community as chairman of the Clear 
Creek Baptist Bible College and his work with the Cumberland Gap 
National Park board, the Mountain Laurel Festival board, as well as 
several other service organizations.
  While I could certainly go on about the character of Harry Hoe, let 
me conclude by saying that Harry Hoe's impact in Middlesboro, Kentucky, 
should be a model by which we all pattern our approach to leadership--
built on humility and grace.
  Mr. President, the Middlesboro Daily News recently published a 
profile story on Mr. Harry Hoe. I ask unanimous consent that the full 
article be printed in the Record.
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

             [From the Middlesboro Daily News, May 5, 2010]

                   ``Harry Hoe--An Enduring Leader''

                            By Lorie Settles

       Harry Morgan Hoe began his life 85-years ago in 
     Middlesboro. He remembers a town much different than the one 
     most of us are familiar with today--where groceries were 
     delivered and children walked to school. The simplicity of 
     life remains one of his dearest memories.
       ``Growing up here was a real treat,'' Harry recalled, 
     ``everything was free and easy. The town was growing; they 
     were building buildings and paving streets.'' Harry's 
     generation was the first of his family to grow up in 
     Middlesboro. In 1909, J.R. Hoe, Harry's grandfather, moved 
     his family to Kentucky from Pittsburg, PA after a labor 
     strike put an end to his career as the superintendent of a 
     large steel mill. He purchased the town foundry and re-named 
     it J.R. Hoe and Sons. Together, he and his five sons worked 
     long hours to create the business Middlesboro knows today.
       ``My father worked like a dog,'' Hoe remembered. ``He 
     poured 20,000 pounds of iron per day and the things had to be 
     carried, by hand, to the railroad station.'' Harry went to 
     Louisville to attend high school at the Kentucky Military 
     Institute, from which he graduated in 1943. At the age of 17, 
     just before graduation, he received his draft notice for 
     World War II. After a few months of training, he briefly 
     returned home to see his family, and then shipped out. ``We 
     had all gone through basic training; we'd done the physical 
     exercises and the bayonets and it was fun . . . It never got 
     through to me that we were training to kill,'' he remembered. 
     He arrived with the 4th Infantry Division on the beaches of 
     Normandy shortly thereafter. ``I served under General 
     Patton,'' Harry recalls. ``He said: Half of you guys are not 
     going home, you know that don't you? You're over

[[Page S5102]]

     here to take that hill and if you don't take it, I want to 
     see the truckload of dog tags that show me that you proved 
     yourself.' So we fought. We were his soldiers--that was all 
     we knew to do.''
       He was decorated with the Silver Star for gallantry in 
     action, the Bronze Star, the Oak Leaf Cluster for heroic 
     action and the French Liberation Appreciation Medal--all 
     before reaching the age of 19.
       During his tour of duty, Harry fought in five major 
     European campaigns. ``It was different then,'' he said. ``It 
     was a different war. Everyone was for it, we were very 
     patriotic. We wanted to keep Hitler from ruining the world.''
       His return home was bittersweet. ``I spent weeks when I 
     came home saying: `What? He didn't come back either? He's 
     dead too?' The boys you hugged at the train station, the ones 
     that came back, were badly wounded and missing limbs. We 
     didn't see all of the consequences until the war was over,'' 
     he remembered.
       Shortly after his return, he enrolled at the University of 
     Tennessee. He graduated in 1949 with a B.S. in Business. ``My 
     father wanted me to go to college,'' Harry said. ``I thought 
     that I was too mature. I'd been to war, I felt too old for 
     college life.'' He met his wife, Mary, at the university 
     through a friend from Middlesboro and the two quickly became 
     an item. He credits much of his success and happiness to 
     Mary, who insisted that he finish college and worked as a 
     librarian at UT after her own graduation while Harry 
     completed his education.
       ``She was my secret weapon,'' Harry said of the woman he 
     lost just last year. ``She was easy to love.'' The couple 
     returned to Middlesboro after finishing school and Harry went 
     to work for the family business. Though he was unsure that he 
     would remain in the business, he viewed it as a chance to 
     gain experience.
       His family was happy to have him as the first college 
     graduate in the company for as long as he wished to stay. In 
     1953, Harry Morgan Hoe was honored as one of the three 
     Outstanding Young Men of Kentucky. His accomplishments would 
     only become more impressive as time went on. Harry worked as 
     the director of the Kentucky Utilities company for 19 years, 
     and was honored by the company with a $100,000 donation that 
     was awarded to Clear Creek Baptist Bible College. He served 
     as a board member of the college for 20 years and as chairman 
     for two terms.
       The first integrated Little League Baseball team south of 
     the Ohio River was instigated in Middlesboro in 1953. Harry 
     began the team and was its president for seven years. In 
     1959, Harry worked as general chairman for the dedication of 
     the Cumberland Gap National Park. He has been the director of 
     Kentucky Mountain Laurel Festival Board for 55 years and 
     served twice as president. Harry also acted as chairman of 
     the board of directors of Kentuckians for Better 
     Transportation and Associated Industries in Kentucky. He 
     spent two 3-year terms as director of the Kentucky Chamber of 
     Commerce.
       In 1964, Harry Hoe decided to try his hand at state 
     politics. He was elected to the Kentucky House of 
     Representatives, where he served for six years. He wrote the 
     Drunk Driving Bill in 1968, and in what seemed to many 
     Kentucky politicians and reporters of the day as an unlikely 
     turn of events, it passed. Harry vividly recalls the day the 
     bill finally got off of the ground: ``It was the last day of 
     the legislature and a lot of my opponents were out 
     celebrating at a bar. So I went back to the House and asked 
     the Speaker to allow me to introduce my bill, as a favor 
     since it was my last term. The bill passed the House. I took 
     it to the Lieutenant Governor and asked for a vote in the 
     Senate. No one wanted to be on record as being for drunk 
     driving, but Kentucky produced a lot of whiskey. The 
     Governor, Louie Nunn, wouldn't sign it. He let it sit there 
     for 10 days. The law states that after ten days, if he hasn't 
     signed a bill that has passed the House and Senate, it 
     becomes law.''
       Harry was the minority whip and the assistant minority 
     floor leader. He spent 12 years serving on the Kentucky 
     Republican State Central Committee and was recently inducted 
     into the Republican 5th Congressional District hall of Fame 
     by Congressman Hal Rogers.
       He has been a deacon of the First Baptist Church for the 
     past 60 years and served as chairman of the deacons for three 
     terms. In addition, he has sung in the church's choir for 60 
     years and been a Sunday School teacher for 55. Harry was 
     awarded the Salvation Army William Booth Award, the highest 
     honor given by the charity, after serving as chairman. He is 
     a life member of the Salvation Army Advisory Board and has 
     been for 60 years.
       The Kiwanis Club of Middlesboro has had the benefit of 
     Harry's membership since 1949. He was twice elected president 
     and has won several awards including Kiwanian of the Year. He 
     founded the Middlesboro High School Key Club in 1954. Today, 
     Harry lives in the same house he bought 45-years ago with his 
     wife, Mary.
       He continues to work, as needed, at the J.R. Hoe and Sons 
     foundry, where he served as the President of the firm from 
     1988 until 2009. He enjoys spending some of his free time 
     with his and Mary's three children: Priscilla, Harry (Bo), 
     and Marilyn, and with his seven grandchildren.

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