[Congressional Record Volume 160, Number 108 (Friday, July 11, 2014)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1147]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    TRIBUTE TO MR. EUGENE H. DIBBLE

                                  _____
                                 

                          HON. DANNY K. DAVIS

                              of illinois

                    in the house of representatives

                         Friday, July 11, 2014

  Mr. DANNY K. DAVIS of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, about ten years ago I 
had the pleasure of going to the floor of the House of Representatives 
to congratulate and wish my good friend Mr. Eugene Dibble a happy 75th 
birthday.
  Today, I am pleased to be here at Howard University Law School with 
you, his family, friends and associates to say farewell as he 
transitions on to another world of which we know so little.
  But what we do know is that Mr. Eugene Dibble is a member of one of 
America's most distinguished families. Big Gene or Gentle man Gene as 
he was fondly called by some of those who knew him, was indeed a man 
about the town. Pedigreed, intelligent, astute, wise civically socially 
and politically involved, and some would even say charmingly so!
  Gene Dibble was a pioneer, one of the first African American stock 
brokers in Chicago. He told me that he owned five businesses at one 
time and had five children who worked in these businesses. Yes, he was 
advisor to the Honorable Elijah Muhammad, Muhammad Ali and to countless 
others. One evening after dinner at one of his favorite eating places, 
``the Jockey Club'', he said to me that the most important aspects of 
his life were his family and heritage. He talked about you all whenever 
he was talking and that was practically all of the time. Gene was 
keenly aware of his world and always seeking, probing and analyzing and 
trying to figure out, always wanting to be in charge of his thoughts 
and actions.
  It seems to me that the poet William Ernest Henley had Gene on his 
mind when he penned these words: ``Out of the night that covers me, 
Black as the pit from pole to pole, I thank whatever Gods may be, for 
my unconquerable soul. In the fell clutch of circumstance, I have not 
winced nor cried aloud, Under the bludgeoning of chance, my head is 
bloody, but unbowed. Beyond this place of wrath and tears looms the 
horrors of the shade, and yet the menace of the years, finds and shall 
find me unafraid. It matters not how straight the gate, how charged 
with punishment the scroll, I am the master of my fate, I am the 
captain of my soul!
  And may the soul of Eugene H. Dibble rest in peace.