[Congressional Record Volume 162, Number 4 (Thursday, January 7, 2016)]
[House]
[Page H156]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
REMEMBERING SENATOR BUMPERS
(Mr. WESTERMAN asked and was given permission to address the House
for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
Mr. WESTERMAN. Mr. Speaker, last week the State of Arkansas lost a
giant in the political world. Dale Bumpers, a former Governor and
Senator, had served the State of Arkansas for many decades.
As an intern for Arkansas' junior Senator at the time, David Pryor, I
first met Senator Bumpers in 1986. His service to his fellow Arkansans
began in the Fourth Congressional District, where he returned home to
Charleston to serve as city attorney after the Marines and law school.
He went on to serve on the local school board before mounting
multiple successful bids for statewide office. Charleston Public School
District is not only known for producing stellar graduates and for the
Tigers' powerhouse football program, but for heeding Dale Bumpers'
advice in 1954 and becoming the first public school in the former
Confederate States to desegregate.
His decades of public service were about serving others, not prestige
or power. In his autobiography, Dale said it was his father who
encouraged him to enter public service, calling it a noble profession.
As we remember Senator Bumpers, I can think of no nobler act than
serving others. I appreciate Dale Bumpers' example and his servant's
heart.
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