[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 133 (Friday, September 9, 2011)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1590]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




           EULOGY AT THE MEMORIAL TRIBUTE TO JAMES T. MOLLOY

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. BRIAN HIGGINS

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                       Friday, September 9, 2011

  Mr. HIGGINS. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to enter into the Record a 
eulogy I delivered for the memorial tribute and ceremony of James T. 
Molloy, who served as the Doorkeeper of the House of Representatives.

                  Memorial Tribute to James T. Molloy

       Roseann, Amy, members of the Molloy, Straub and Hayden 
     families. Honorable Members of Congress, past and present, 
     distinguished guests and friends of Jim Molloy. To 
     Congressman Jim Stanton, thank you for many years' of 
     friendship to Jim Molloy and organizing this celebration of 
     his life.
       Jim Molloy served as Doorkeeper of the House of 
     Representatives for more than two decades. He served under 
     four House Speakers, five U.S. Presidents and thousands of 
     Members of Congress. He introduced and hosted Heads of State, 
     foreign dignitaries and organized more than 71 joint sessions 
     of Congress.
       In this, the nation's capitol, a city that Jim Molloy loved 
     and called his second home for more than 40 years, not a more 
     decent, giving and gentle man lived or could be found. He was 
     referred to in many ways here: The Honorable Doorkeeper, 
     James T. Molloy, J.T. Molloy and, as his great friend Speaker 
     Tip O'Neill was often heard saying in a slightly agitated 
     voice, ``Molloy get in here!''
       There was the time that the Dalai Lama came to Congress to 
     have a personal audience with Speaker O'Neill. The Speaker 
     was delayed and Jim was dispatched to entertain His Holiness 
     until the Speaker arrived. Jim nervously tried to make 
     conversation but the Dalia Lama sat silently, smiling. After 
     a couple of minutes of awkward silence, the Dalai Lama 
     pointed to Jim's wrist and commented on the beautiful watch 
     Jim was wearing. Jim removed the watch and tried to give it 
     to the him. The Dalai Lama humbly declined. Jim persevered 
     insisting that he take the watch as a gift. Holding the watch 
     closer to the Dalai Lama, Jim said it was a cheap credit 
     union watch that only cost $14, please take it. At that 
     moment, the Speaker walked in the room and said to an aide, 
     ``I leave Molloy with the Dalai Lama for 5 minutes and he's 
     begging the man to buy his watch.''
       While it is his love of the institution and that bellowing 
     voice from the back of the House Chamber to announce the 
     arrival of the President of the United States that we 
     remember. It is his larger than life personality, generous 
     spirit, self deprecating humor and loyalty to his beloved 
     South Buffalo that we will miss.
       Jim Molloy was a favorite son of South Buffalo. He was the 
     middle child of Matthew and Catherine Molloy. And along with 
     them and his two sisters, Kathy and Janet, grew up at 
     Bloomfield Avenue in Holy Family Parish. Jim was a Buffalo 
     city school teacher, he worked as a grain scooper along the 
     waterfront, was a second generation Buffalo firefighter and 
     served as 2nd Zone democratic chairman at the age of 27, the 
     youngest zone chairman in New York State.
       As Doorkeeper he administered an annual budget of more than 
     $9 million and supervised more than 400 employees. Jim served 
     as Chairman of the Congressional Federal Credit Union for 36 
     years. He recruited the best young minds from the nation's 
     most prestigious educational institutions to start their 
     careers right here in the nation's capital, among them: Holy 
     Family and St. Theresa's grammar schools and South Park, 
     Mount Mercy and Bishop Timon High schools. If you came from 
     these schools and your father was a Buffalo Firefighter and 
     had a second front as a grain scooper you received even more 
     special attention and consideration. Someone once said: you 
     know Jim, next to Mercy Hospital on Abbott Road, you might 
     just be the largest employer of South Buffalo people. To 
     which Jim responded, ``How many people work at Mercy!''
       Jim Molloy's door was never reserved exclusively for the 
     high and mighty, for Kings and Queens. It was a door open to 
     all, through which people of every walk of life could enter 
     the greatest democratic institution, in the greatest nation, 
     in the only world we know. Yes Jim Molloy played gracious 
     host to Presidents and world leaders because he was required 
     to. But he played host to the sons and daughters of union 
     bricklayers and city firemen because he could and wanted to.
       I was one of those kids. My Dad was a union bricklayer and 
     local politician. He and Jim grew up on Bloomfield Avenue, my 
     Dad at 74, Jim at 106. They attended Holy Family grammar 
     school together and were steeped in the deep tradition of 
     South Buffalo politics. My dad died of Alzheimer's three 
     years ago. It's a tough disease whose origins are unknown but 
     whose end is certain. But one of the last things my Dad 
     worked for and remembered fully was watching his son sworn in 
     as a Member of the United States Congress. I tell you this 
     because it's really not my story. It's his and his family's 
     and it's the story of my community, and it's Jim Molloy's as 
     well. And the simple idea that one generation makes 
     sacrifices to make way, to open doors, if you will, for the 
     next.
       Jim Molloy was with us that day and I was honored to have 
     him celebrating that achievement with my family and friends. 
     Someone there commented that I was the first South Buffalo 
     representative in Congress. I really wasn't though. Jim 
     Molloy will always be the first and greatest Congressional 
     representative Buffalo ever had, and it is through the door 
     that he kept that that opportunity was possible for someone 
     else.
       After 34 doorkeepers of the House of Representatives and a 
     tradition dating back to 1789, the new Speaker in 1994 was 
     forced to abolish the position of doorkeeper. I say forced 
     because he knew Jim Molloy could never be replaced.
       In a 2005 interview with Tim Russet for NPR's oral history 
     project, Story Corps, Tim and Jim shared recollections of 
     childhood memories in South Buffalo. Tim concluded the 
     interview by saying that the best way to describe Jim was as 
     a good man, who knew everybody, and who was always proud of 
     taking care of his own. That is Jim Molloy's legacy.
       That is how he lived his life and that life, in all its 
     goodness and graciousness, has made all of us better.
       That is how Jim's friends in Washington, South Buffalo, and 
     across the nation will remember him: as a good man, who knew 
     everybody, and who was always proud of taking care of his 
     own. So today we express gratitude for many things. I give 
     thanks to you and for the opportunity and Honor to be here 
     this morning.
       We give thanks to Jim Molloy for the life that he lived, 
     and friendship that he gave, and only for the people of the 
     country and the community that he loved. And finally we give 
     thanks for a good and generous nation. A good and generous 
     nation that makes Jim Molloy's and all of our stories 
     possible.

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