[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 41 (Thursday, March 17, 2011)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1820-S1821]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         TRIBUTE TO JOHN RHYNO

  Mr. BROWN of Massachusetts. Madam President, I rise today to 
recognize John Rhyno of North Attleboro,

[[Page S1821]]

MA. John is a community leader with an innate sense of right and wrong 
and the courage to put it into action.
  Some people decide they should help those in need. Some people do it 
as part of a company or religious group's volunteer day. Then there are 
the quiet heroes and unsung patriots like John, for whom helping others 
is simply part of who they are.
  I met John during my first campaign for Massachusetts State Senate in 
2003. He is the son of a World War II veteran, John Sr., who returned 
from the war to work as a jeweler, when that industry still had a 
commanding presence in the Attleboros. In addition to working long 
hours herself, John's mother was devoted to caring for her husband and 
their only son. The values John learned at home were reinforced in his 
community through the YMCA, Boy Scouts, church, and school sports.
  As a boy, John did yard work, shoveled snow, fixed cars and did other 
odd jobs, contributing much of the money he earned to his parents to 
help make ends meet. His wife Sherry tells the story of a Christmas 
when a young John Rhyno surprised his parents by purchasing a tank full 
of heating oil from W.H. Riley & Co., a practice he continued over the 
years. Even though it was for his own home, the experience planted the 
seed within John that those closest to those in need know best how to 
help them through tight times. I will talk more about this in a moment.
  At a young age, John demonstrated that doing what is right often 
requires as much courage and toughness as it does compassion. He would 
regularly stand up to bullies, even when they were picking on kids he 
hardly knew. John was also a talented athlete and excelled on North 
Attleboro High School's football field and in other varsity sports. As 
an adult, John coached local Catholic Youth Organization basketball 
teams.
  After graduating from NAHS, he took night classes at Wentworth 
Institute and Fisher College, earning college degrees in automotive 
technology and business while working full-time managing the repair 
garage, motor pool, and snow removal for a local manufacturing plant. A 
devoted employee, John quickly assumed a good deal of responsibility. 
After more than a decade on the job, new management took over. One day, 
his new boss called him into his office and told John that to save 
money, John would have to lay off a subordinate. He refused. Taken 
aback, his boss explained in not-so-subtle terms the finer points of 
insubordination and its consequences. John got the message and did the 
only thing that seemed right to him. He quit, saving his subordinates 
job.
  Within a few weeks, John and a friend hung a shingle at 675 East 
Washington Street in North Attleboro. Thirty years later, ``John & Ed's 
Garage'' remains a successful local business.
  John Rhyno saw local public office as an opportunity to advocate for 
his friends and neighbors. He won his first race for North Attleboro 
Selectman in 2000. John and Sherry use the term ``office'' very 
broadly. Open office hours take place at the couple's home, where they 
encourage constituents to share their concern and ideas for making 
their community a better place to live, learn, work and play.
  During the unusually hot summer of 2005, many local seniors on fixed 
incomes expressed concern over how they would afford the rising energy 
costs. John recalled how he was able to help his own parents decades 
earlier with much needed home heating oil and together with Sherry, a 
professional artist who retired from UMass Boston after 30 years in 
senior management, founded Neighbors Helping Neighbors. In the 6 years 
since they started the 501(c)(3) community assistance fund, it has 
raised and donated over $100,000 by and for the people of North 
Attleboro to help pay for home heating or just make ends meet until 
they get their feet on the ground. One hundred percent of all donations 
go directly to those in need through a voucher system--no red tape, 
bureaucracy, delays, overhead or excuses. There's no better proof than 
Neighbors Helping Neighbors that those closest to a problem are often 
in the best position to devise solutions.
  The Rhynos still open their home for office hours, though local 
residents also know they can always just drop by John & Ed's Garage 
when they have got a concern. About to begin his twelfth year on the 
town's Board of Selectmen, John is known as an accessible commonsense 
problem solver who always seeks citizen input, often taking out 
newspaper surveys to gauge local opinion.
  Residents are so accustomed to his sincerity it seems only his 
closest friends can tell when he is joking. One Easter Sunday, John and 
Sherry drove to inspect a local family's historic stone wall that the 
town had slated for removal. With the homeowner at a town board meeting 
on the issue a few weeks later, John decided to have a little fun. 
Doing his best to keep a straight face, John passionately told 
colleagues and residents of how as a boy visiting the town's historic 
Woodcock Garrison House, he heard the story of how townspeople stood on 
a stone wall with buckets of water for Paul Revere's horse on his 
historic midnight ride. John expected that his obvious tall tale would 
bring a few much needed laughs to the otherwise dry meeting. Instead, 
the board bought it hook, line and sinker and gave unanimous consent to 
save the wall.
  On March 21, 2011, John Rhyno will receive the North Attleboro/
Plainville Rotary Club's top honors: the Distinguished Service Award 
for Outstanding Citizen for his lifetime of advocacy for his community. 
I join them in honoring John and extend my own heartfelt thanks for his 
friendship counsel and his selfless dedication to his community.

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