[Congressional Record Volume 160, Number 138 (Thursday, November 13, 2014)]
[House]
[Page H7946]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                  TRIBUTE TO REPRESENTATIVE LANE EVANS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Illinois (Mr. Danny K. Davis) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. DANNY K. DAVIS of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, I am proud to join with 
my colleagues in paying tribute to former Congressman Lane Evans, to 
convey condolences to his family and friends, and to urge the naming of 
a VA outpatient clinic in Galesburg, Illinois, in his name and in his 
honor.
  I had come to know and revere Representative Lane Evans long before I 
became a Member of Congress. As a matter of fact, he was known not only 
in the area that he represented, but throughout Illinois and especially 
among individuals who considered themselves to be political 
progressives.
  As a matter of fact, I had the good fortune to travel with Lane and a 
group to El Salvador under his leadership and under the sponsorship of 
a group at the time known as People to People.

                              {time}  1045

  As a matter of fact, in that same group was Representative Jan 
Schakowsky, and that is where I felt that I really got to know Jan and 
her husband, Bob.
  Lane Evans spent most of his adult life in public service except for 
the time he was in college or law school. Not only did he enlist in the 
Marines during the Vietnam era and comported himself extremely well 
during his tenure, but Lane also was a legal aid attorney. That is an 
attorney who works specifically to represent those who otherwise would 
not have had any legal representation. After being elected to Congress 
in 1982, he established himself as a strong voice for veterans and 
championed other progressive causes. During his entire time in 
Congress, he served on the Veterans' Affairs Committee and rose to the 
commission of ranking member.
  Lane gave us his physical and mental capabilities until he could 
actually give no more. That is, he would often come to work barely able 
to sit, sometimes barely able to walk in, at the time when others would 
have just given up and said, ``I can't do this anymore.''
  Lane did us proud. Therefore, I am proud to join in this tribute, and 
I am proud to support the naming of the VA medical facility in 
Galesburg, Illinois, as the Lane A. Evans Community-Based Outpatient 
Clinic. Lane is absolutely deserving of this honor. I have never, ever 
known anyone who worked as long and as hard as Lane did with his 
illness, and he simply worked, as they sometimes say in Christian 
churches, until his days were done.
  Lane, I am proud to have known you, proud to have served with you, 
and proud to call you my friend.

                          ____________________