[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 110 (Monday, July 23, 2012)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5253-S5255]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  TRIBUTE TO GLENN ``BUDDY'' WESTBROOK

  Mr. McCONNELL. Madam President, I rise today in recognition of Mr. 
Glenn ``Buddy'' Westbrook of London, Kentucky, and his service to both 
this nation and the State of Kentucky, specifically Laurel County and 
the surrounding region. Passionate about development of the London 
community, Mr. Westbrook worked to build the Laurel County economy and 
strengthen the tourism industry in southeastern Kentucky.
  Born in 1930 to J. Hamp and Flo Pearl Westbrook, Buddy Westbrook was 
raised in London, Kentucky. His nickname, Buddy, stuck when his older 
sister, Madge, called him Buddy because she could not say Glenn. He 
began working at an early age when he helped his father separate type 
for the printing shop the family owned. Buddy enjoyed working because 
it made him feel grown up. However, like all boys, he enjoyed spending 
time outdoors, especially at Kidds Pond, and he also had a knack for 
getting into mischief, such as climbing telephone poles.
  Buddy graduated from high school in London but during his sophomore 
year attended classes at Berea College to study chemistry. After high 
school he attended Sue Bennett College and worked in his father's gas 
and LP appliance store. Throughout his life, he was taught that civic 
duty and serving others was an important part of being a member of a 
community. In 1950, Buddy joined the U.S. Army and served in Germany 
during the Korean War.
  When he returned to London, Buddy took over his family store. As an 
active member of the Jaycees, an organization that promotes community 
development, he was able to attend a conference in Ashland where he met 
his wife, Jeanne. The couple had eight children. In 1970, Governor 
Wendell Ford named Buddy to the Kentucky Institute for Children.
  In 1975, Buddy was offered a position with the Cumberland Valley Area 
Development District. His service through this post was especially of 
benefit to the tourism industry in the region. Not only did Buddy and 
members of the commission share information about the region at travel 
shows, but he also organized the first Tourism Industry Development 
Symposium held in Lexington.
  After the death of his wife, Jeanne, and son, Don, in 1983 and 1984, 
respectively, Buddy understandably endured some difficult times. 
However, a friend, Susan Mitchell, who later became his wife, helped 
him through this dark period. After retiring in 1993, Buddy organized 
Vision 2000 for London, Kentucky, a plan to define goals for the city 
which ultimately came to fruition during the new millennium.
  Buddy Westbrook is truly an outstanding citizen of the London, 
Kentucky, community. Passionate about the development of Laurel County 
and the surrounding region, his lifetime commitment to economic and 
tourism development have proved to be invaluable to southeastern 
Kentucky. Buddy's dedication to his community is exemplary, and I am 
privileged today to recognize his many contributions to Kentucky. I ask 
my colleagues in the U.S. Senate to join me in celebrating Mr. Glenn 
``Buddy'' Westbrook. A recent article published in the Sentinel-Echo, a 
Laurel County-area publication, highlighted his accomplishments. Mr. 
President, I ask unanimous consent that said article appear in the 
Record.
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

                 [From the Sentinel-Echo, May 2, 2012]

           Westbrook: `This Is Most Exciting Time in History'

                           (By Tara Kaprowy)

       Upon opening the door for his Living Treasures interview, 
     81-year-old Glenn ``Buddy'' Westbrook announces he just has a 
     couple of hours to chat; he's going four-wheeling on the Salt 
     River with a friend and, with the spring morning warm and 
     clear, time's, as they say, a-wastin'.
       But upon stepping into his kitchen, it's clear Westbrook's 
     interest hasn't completely been kidnapped by the prospect of 
     ATVing. He's laid out his dining room table with croissants, 
     marmalade and several types of tea in anticipation of the 
     impending discussion--and, in his characteristic way, to make 
     things lovely and enjoyable.
       Westbrook was born June 14, 1930, to J. Hamp and Flo Pearl 
     (Eversole) Westbrook. His mother was born in London and her 
     maternal grandfather, J.N. Robinson, was the first 
     photographer and jeweler in town. ``My mother's father was 
     Roscoe Eversole, and he was the cashier of the First National 
     Bank in London and was also mayor when they first started 
     putting in sidewalks and culverts. Before that, it was 
     boardwalks. And so I grew up with examples of leadership, a 
     love of London and Laurel County, and an appreciation of the 
     people.''
       His father came from the cotton farms of Georgia and, 
     together, he and Flo Pearl made a cozy home with their young 
     family in an apartment above First National Bank. Westbrook's 
     sister Madge was two years his elder and, unable to pronounce 
     the name ``Glenn,'' he soon acquired the nickname

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     ``Buddy,'' a moniker by which he is still known.
       Hamp worked at the Corbin Times and later owned a printing 
     shop in Corbin. From a young age, Westbrook helped his 
     father, learning ``to separate cold type in a California 
     box,'' he said.
       ``It wasn't done by a-b-c-d-e-f-g,'' he said. ``It was by 
     the most-used letters, `e' was in the center in the bigger 
     box. It made me feel grown up.''
       After Madge and Westbrook started attending school at Sue 
     Bennett grade school, Flo Pearl went to work at First 
     National Bank, a job she kept for the next 50 years.
       With the family settling in a home his father built on East 
     Fifth Street, Westbrook remembers a happy childhood. ``This 
     was a wonderful place to grow up,'' he said. ``If you made 
     any mistakes while you were in town, like climbing telephone 
     poles or things like that, your parents knew by the time you 
     got home. You got a lecture and often your backside got 
     warmed.''
       London was a friendly place to live, and ``people would 
     come to town on Saturdays from farms, park their cars, park 
     their horses and wagons behind the jail on Broad Street, and 
     they'd come up on Main Street where all the businesses were 
     located,'' he said. ``It was a time when doctors cared about 
     you. They knew you, they loved you, and they wanted to heal 
     you.''
       Westbrook also described strict but caring teachers. ``We 
     learned about patriotism and civic things,'' he said. ``We 
     started learning at an early age that we were part of a 
     whole.''
       Evenings at the Westbrook house included the family 
     ``watching the radio'' to listen to the evening news. Flo 
     Pearl would read to her children from English and American 
     authors and classic mythology. On warm summer afternoons, 
     Westbrook said he and his friends would head to a small lake 
     south of London close to the entrance of Levi Jackson 
     Wilderness Road State Park.
       ``It was Kidds Pond,'' he said. ``They had dressing rooms 
     and they charged you a quarter to swim all day and sometimes 
     it was 10 cents. Of course, back then you could get a Coke 
     for a nickel and hamburgers were a nickel.''
       When he was looking for something to do, Westbrook would 
     head to his grandmother's farm next to where E.C. Porter's 
     IGA currently stands, where he learned how to ``milk a cow 
     and how to churn and make butter.''
       On December 7, 1941, Westbrook remembers ``playing in the 
     front yard on his bicycle'' when his parents told him 
     President Roosevelt had announced the Japanese had attacked 
     Pearl Harbor. From that moment on, Westbrook's childhood 
     changed. ``We followed everything about the war,'' he said. 
     ``I saw the National Guard troops mount up over where the 
     fire department is now on Dixie Street. They had horses and 
     stables and they had a drill hall filled with sand with a 
     roof over it and they would take the horses in there and do 
     their formations in there. I remember seeing the troops mount 
     up in the armory after World War II started and march up Main 
     Street, go down to the depot and get on a train to go off to 
     war.''
       By the time he reached high school, Westbrook had decided 
     he would become a ``brilliant chemist for Dupont'' and even 
     went to Berea College in his sophomore year to study 
     chemistry. He returned to London the following year to 
     graduate. ``That was a wonderful experience,'' he said. 
     ``London had a good basketball team, good cheerleaders and 
     good teachers who cared.''
       Following graduation, Westbrook enrolled in Sue Bennett 
     College. Later, he worked at the appliance and LP gas store 
     with his father. Westbrook said he was lucky to learn from 
     his father ``how to build a business, care for customers, 
     find what they needed, and have it for them.''
       But Westbrook was lucky--jobs were scarce and veterans 
     returning from WWII wanted to be able to live in Laurel 
     County. That desire was granted when in 1949, London was 
     chosen to be Kentucky's first ``Test City,'' an experiment in 
     community development sponsored by the Kentucky Chamber of 
     Commerce. Over the next 10 years, the effort attracted 2,500 
     new jobs to the area.
       Part of the effort involved ``a big clean-up, paint-up, 
     fix-up'' campaign in preparation for visits from industries, 
     Westbrook said. ``Gradually the ramshackle buildings and 
     sheds were torn down,'' he said. ``There was no law or 
     anything, there was just pride. They wanted it to be part of 
     helping it succeed. Weeded lots were mowed, progress reports 
     were given every week in the newspaper.''
       The experience profoundly affected Westbrook, who was 
     greatly inspired by the community leaders who were spurring 
     the effort. ``The leadership I saw, the people I respected, 
     the veterans who came back from World War II and other 
     leaders, they got together and I saw them cooperating and 
     really dreaming, saying we could do this and let's try this 
     to create jobs. Even though there would be the potential 
     embarrassment of trying something and it not working, at 
     least you felt like you should try it.''
       Westbrook joined the Jaycees, the young men's organization 
     active in community development.
       In 1950, Westbrook was drafted in the U.S. Army during 
     ``the Korean Police Action,'' but rather than be sent to 
     Asia, was shipped to Germany where he taught soldiers about 
     weapon surveillance and fire direction control in his 
     artillery unit. He was also given the task of purchasing 
     German wines for the military base.
       Westbrook took full advantage of his time in Europe and 
     sunk happily in its cultures. He learned to ski in the Alps, 
     took photography lessons from ``an old German,'' learned 
     French, German, and Italian, ate pizza and weinerschnitzel 
     for the first time, and spent his time off travelling. ``I 
     spent a week in Paris and got to go to every museum,'' he 
     said. ``It was fun to be discovering these things. I got to 
     see the Louvre. When I went in there, on the first landing, 
     there was the Winged Victory of Samothrace and I said, Wow! 
     They've got it here.' ''
       When he was discharged in 1953, Westbrook returned to 
     London, shed his dreams of becoming a chemist, and took over 
     the family business. He quickly re-joined the Jaycees and 
     upon his first annual meeting in Ashland, met the woman who 
     was to become his first wife. ``The only single one was 
     Jeanne Watts,'' he said. ``A year and a half later, we were 
     married.''
       They wed in Ashland and Westbrook returned to London with 
     his bride. ``She was intelligent, she had her own way of 
     doing things, she was thoughtful and caring, but she was also 
     very independent,'' he said of Jeanne.
       Together they had eight children--Joe, Amy, Don, Robert, 
     David, Mary, Susan, and Leann. Jeanne kept the books and 
     Buddy continued working at his businesses and diving into 
     community issues. In 1970, he was appointed by Gov. Wendell 
     Ford and later Gov. Julian Carroll to the Kentucky Commission 
     for Children, which was renamed the Kentucky Institute for 
     Children, and attended the president's 1970 White House 
     Conference on Children and Youth.
       After decades in the gas business, Westbrook decided to go 
     into the wholesale kitchen-design business, one that later 
     expanded into institutional food service for schools, 
     hospitals and resorts.
       With the majority of his business in eastern Kentucky, 
     Westbrook soon discovered it was cheaper to get his 
     instrument pilot's license and fly his men to Pikeville than 
     it was to drive, so he bought a six-passenger Cessna and 
     began his career in the air, flying the equivalent of eight 
     times around the world.
       ``On the weekend, I could take my family and we'd leave 
     here at noon and be on the beach in Florida in five hours,'' 
     he remembered.
       Spending time with his family was paramount to Westbrook, 
     though he admits he was a ``strict disciplinarian.''
       ``I believe discipline is proof that you care about values 
     that are important in life,'' he said. ``When my daughter 
     Leann was born with Down syndrome, she thrived because of the 
     help of her brothers and sisters. I stopped playing golf and 
     our family did things together and we traveled as a family. 
     We tried to teach them the need for unconditional love. They 
     went to church and learned to pray. They still go to 
     church.''
       In 1975, still with a passion for leadership, Westbrook was 
     asked to work for the Cumberland Valley Area Development 
     District. Later, he worked to develop a stronger tourism 
     industry in the region. ``We'd take our brochures and our 
     booths and our pictures and travel to shows in Chicago and 
     Indianapolis and Cincinnati and Detroit and people would come 
     and see where to go on vacation,'' he said.
       Eight years later, Jeanne was diagnosed with lung cancer 
     and, with little treatment available, died August 2, 1983. 
     Nine months later, Westbrook's son Don died after having an 
     allergic reaction to a flu shot. It was a devastating time 
     for Westbrook, who was still working and taking care of 
     Leann.
       Though he continued to go to work every day, he admitted he 
     fell into a deep depression. ``When a child dies, it pulls 
     something out of you and you're never, ever the same,'' he 
     said.
       Eventually, Westbrook was able to recover, in part with the 
     help of Susan Mitchell, who would later become his wife. 
     ``She helped me through the most difficult times of the 
     grieving,'' he said. ``I was certainly not a very pleasant 
     person to be around, and she told me years later I was the 
     saddest person she had ever seen. I was so thankful to have a 
     friend who knew what I was going through. She was my 
     cheerleader.''
       Together, Susan and Westbrook have a son, Reuben, and 
     though no longer married, remain friends.
       After 18 years with the development district, during which 
     he organized the first Tourism Industry Development Symposium 
     in Lexington, Westbrook retired in 1993. In advance of the 
     new millennium, he organized Vision 2000, an effort to define 
     London's goals and aspirations, many of which came to 
     fruition. In 2010, he wrote a cookbook, ``Grandma's Heirloom 
     Kentucky and Southern Recipes.'' He continues to live with 
     Leann, ``who babysits her dad,'' and enjoys seeing his other 
     children, 13 grandchildren, and five great-grandchildren. He 
     attends St. William Catholic Church. And he remains deeply 
     committed to London and his passion for progress.
       At the end of his interview, he outlines ways to think 
     outside the box, drawing several adjacent squares on a sheet 
     of paper and asking how many are actually there. Pointing out 
     how several small boxes form several larger ones, he talks 
     about the importance of expanding one's mind. ``You have to 
     be open minded, you can't just be closed to what was. It's 
     exciting. This is the most exciting time in the history of 
     mankind to be alive,'' he said and puts his pencil down.

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