[Congressional Record Volume 162, Number 109 (Thursday, July 7, 2016)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1053-E1054]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 DEL LATTA, A DEDICATED PUBLIC SERVANT

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                         HON. BRAD R. WENSTRUP

                                of ohio

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, July 5, 2016

  Mr. WENSTRUP. Mr. Speaker, I recently came across a short poem called 
``The Dash,'' and I'd like to submit the first few lines:

     I read of a man who stood to speak
     at the funeral of a friend.
     He referred to the dates on the tombstone
     from the beginning . . . to the end.

     He noted that first came the date of birth
      and spoke the following date with tears,
     but he said what mattered most of all
     was the dash between those years.

     For that dash represents all the time
     that they spent alive on earth.
     And now only those who loved them
     know what that little line is worth.

     For it matters not, how much we own,
     the cars . . . the house . . . the cash.
     What matters is how we live and love
     and how we spend our dash.

  Del Latta's dash represents a life dedicated to his fellow Ohioans 
and his fellow Americans.

[[Page E1054]]

  First as a state senator, and then later as a U.S. Congressman, Mr. 
Latta was a true public servant, a trait he passed on to his son, and 
my friend, Bob.
  I offer my prayers and condolences to Bob, and to his family, and I 
thank his father for spending his dash in service to our state and our 
country.

                          ____________________