[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 156 (Thursday, December 2, 2010)]
[Senate]
[Page S8358]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     REMEMBERING MAYOR BILL GORMAN

  Mr. McCONNELL. Madam President, in October a dear friend of mine--and 
of the Commonwealth of Kentucky--passed away peacefully. And today I 
wish to pay tribute to Mayor Bill Gorman, of Hazard, KY, for his warm 
and generous spirit and, above all, for his faithfulness to the mission 
of promoting, defending, and serving the people of Hazard.
  Mayor Gorman was born about a decade after the railroad came, when 
Hazard was first opening up to the world. He saw the floods and the 
cleanup, the coal carnivals, and the stores on Main Street come and go. 
He saw Senators and Congressmen, and Presidential candidates. He saw it 
all. And he could have followed it all too, right out of Hazard. But he 
didn't. Because Hazard was the only place he ever wanted to be.
  The story goes that Bill was vacationing down in Florida in 1977, 
when somebody threw his name in the race for mayor. From that point on, 
being mayor was all Bill ever wanted. He never drew a paycheck. And he 
was never off the clock--as anyone who used to get his late-night phone 
calls can attest. He was always thinking of how to move Hazard forward, 
how to make life better for the people of Hazard and the surrounding 
region. Whether it was extending the water lines or building a pool 
where the kids in town could learn to swim, or expanding the hospital, 
or improving and expanding educational opportunities, he always had a 
vision and a plan to make it happen. And he usually did.
  He attended every ribbon cutting, no matter how small. And he took 
everybody's calls--even at home--and there were a lot of them--because 
his number was always listed in the phone book. He treated everyone 
with dignity and respect, and he wanted to talk to everybody, whether 
you were the President of the United States--and Bill knew a lot of 
them or somebody down on their luck.
  One of Bill's lunch buddies remembers being with him once when he got 
a phone call from an elderly widow who lived in one of the public 
housing units in town. Her health was deteriorating, she said, and she 
wondered if he could help her move from the fourth floor to the first 
floor. Mayor Gorman got the building manager on the phone immediately 
and asked if anything was opening up on the first floor. There was. And 
that woman got her wish. Moving floors was important to that lady, so 
it was important to Mayor Gorman.
  Another time a group of city workmen dropped into a local restaurant 
for a bite to eat after working around the clock after a snow storm. 
When the bill came, they were told it had already been paid. It was 
Mayor Gorman, but they didn't know it. He made sure of it. He did that 
kind of thing all the time, never flaunting it, just lifting folks up--
from high school kids going off to college to an elderly woman who 
needed a hand--he was there.
  For Mayor Gorman, no problem was too little or too big. He was as 
concerned about the little things as he was determined to accomplish 
the big things, and he was a master at both. He never boasted. He just 
did good. It is a rare breed these days. But Bill Gorman was a rare 
man, a gentle soul who devoted himself to his mission in life and who 
enjoyed every minute of it. Not that he wasn't feisty. If you ever 
wanted to pick a fight with Mayor Gorman, say something about the 
people of eastern Kentucky; he would take you on. And the people of 
Perry Country loved him for it.
  He was proud of his people and his heritage. And he was proud of the 
coal industry that built this region. As it happens, I got to know Bill 
before he was a mountain legend. Long before either of us had set out 
on our political careers, and I was working as the youth chairman for 
Marlow Cook, who was running for the Senate that year. When they sent 
me out on the road, they told me to look up a guy named Bill Gorman 
when I got to Hazard. He was the guy, they said. And they were right. 
And when the two of us got together for the last time at his home this 
past August, 42 years later, he was still the guy.
  Washington may not be a very popular place these days, but Hazard is 
a pretty popular place in Washington. Walk into any office--whether it 
is a staffer or a U.S. President--and you are liable to see a Duke or 
Duchess of Hazard citation on the wall. I am told that even Pope John 
Paul II was named a Duke of Hazard, which is appropriate, since Bill 
used to say he was born a Baptist, was adopted by the Catholics, and 
would die a Presbyterian. Like a lot of politicians, he was covering 
all his bases.
  Mayor Gorman once said that government is only as good as the people 
who run it. If that is true, it is likely Hazard will never be as good 
as it was when Mayor Gorman was with us. But I think we owe it to him 
to make it so--to live our lives with the same dedication and spirit of 
service he did. I am blessed to have known him. He is dearly missed.

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