[Congressional Record Volume 159, Number 158 (Thursday, November 7, 2013)]
[Senate]
[Page S7924]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  REMEMBERING IVEY LEE ARMSTRONG, SR.

  Mr. CARDIN. Mr. President, I rise to pay tribute to a wonderful man, 
Ivey Lee Armstrong, Sr., who died last month. He was just 62. He worked 
for nearly 30 years cooking and preparing delicious food in the Senate 
Carryout. The entire Senate community will miss him dearly.
  Many of our constituents may not appreciate that the Senate truly is 
a community. Our partisan or regional differences of opinion are made 
public on C-SPAN2, in the newspapers, and on the campaign trail. But 
here, where we work day in and day out, we are surrounded by thousands 
of hardworking and dedicated people who mostly toil in anonymity. They 
are the fabric of the community here. They are the ones who keep the 
Senate functioning. We have our own staff, and the committees have 
staff, and leadership has staff, and there are the floor and cloakroom 
staffs and the Parliamentarian and Senate legislative counsel and the 
Bill Clerk and the Senate reporters, and so on. But we also have 
Capitol Police, who protect all of us and the thousands of people who 
visit the Capitol campus daily. We have plumbers and electricians and 
carpenters and painters. We have people who man the elevators and the 
subways and help guide the public through the buildings and up into the 
Galleries. And we have people who work in the cafeterias, including the 
Senate Carryout in the basement of this building.
  I eat lunch at the Senate Carryout frequently because it is 
convenient and because the food is excellent. It is really home 
cooking. And I always enjoyed catching up with ``Mr. Ivey,'' as 
everyone knew him. But it wasn't just his culinary skills that we will 
miss. Mr. Ivey was a fine gentleman. He was unfailingly cheerful and 
polite and he made everyone feel at home.
  Meredith Shiner and Niels Lesniewski wrote a nice article about Mr. 
Ivey in Roll Call, noting that he was often the first person at work in 
the morning and the last one to leave when the Senate Carryout finally 
closed for the night. They also noted that he was an Army and Army 
National Guard veteran who earned the National Defense Service Medal, a 
Good Conduct Medal, and M16 Sharpshooter awards. I am proud to say he 
was a constituent and there will be a memorial service for him tomorrow 
at From the Heart Church of Ministries in Suitland.
  Mr. Ivey wasn't just devoted to his country, to the Senate, and to 
his job, he was devoted to his family and to his faith. According to 
the Roll Call article, Mr. Ivey re-enlisted so that he could get the 
health care coverage needed for a sick daughter. It is a big family--8 
siblings, 4 children, 10 grandchildren, and 4 great-grandchildren, 
among others. I want to send my deepest condolences to his family and 
friends and coworkers. The Senate community has lost one of its finest 
and kindest members. We will miss his cooking but, more important, we 
will miss his good cheer, his demeanor, and his friendship.

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