[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 100 (Thursday, July 7, 2011)]
[House]
[Page H4688]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  1230
                 REMEMBERING BISHOP J.O. PATTERSON, JR.

  (Mr. COHEN asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute.)
  Mr. COHEN. Mr. Speaker, while we were in recess on June 25, Memphis 
lost one of its great citizens, Bishop J.O. Patterson, Jr.
  Bishop Patterson was the grandson of the founder of the Church of God 
in Christ, Bishop Charles Mason, and the cousin of the revered and late 
Bishop G. Patterson, who was the sixth bishop of the COGIC.
  Bishop J.O. Patterson, Jr., was a public servant as well as a bishop 
and a revered citizen of Memphis. He was my friend. We served together 
in the Constitutional Convention of 1977. He served one term in the 
house, two terms in the State senate, 20 years in the city council, and 
was the first appointed African American mayor of the City of Memphis.
  He was a leader in his church and he cared about his community. He 
cared about jazz and he cared about his fellow man. He was low key, 
sincere, down to earth, and a leader whom Memphis will miss.
  He did much with the opportunities that he was given through his 
father and his family and his city in politics and in other areas. He 
was the jurisdictional bishop for the Tennessee headquarters, the head 
of the Pentecostal Temple Institutional Church of God in Christ and did 
much with the COGIC.
  I will miss him and so will the City of Memphis and all of the 
Members and all of the saints.

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