[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 24 (Wednesday, February 7, 2018)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E156]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]





                   REMEMBERING JOHN GADSDEN THORNHILL

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. MARK SANFORD

                           of south carolina

                    in the house of representatives

                      Wednesday, February 7, 2018

  Mr. SANFORD. Mr. Speaker, it's been said that while every man must 
die, not every man gets to live. That choice that we all have in 
running to embrace life and all of its possibilities is tragically a 
choice that many people don't make. This was never the case for John G. 
His life was marked by the way that he fully lived it. He didn't just 
sip life, or feel it at its edges, he drank it with gusto.
  It's for that infectious smile of his that he'll be missed. It's for 
his enthusiasm of people, places, and circumstance that he'll be 
missed. It's for the high notes his voice would hit as he became more 
and more enthused in conversation, teasing, and even an occasional 
heckling that was well deserved.
  His love of the community showed in many ways. In a traditional 
sense, it was seen in his membership of things like the Mt. Pleasant 
Rotary Club where he won the Service Above Self Award in 1982-1983. His 
love of what makes our community special was marked by his membership 
in things like the South Carolina Waterfowl Association. His love of 
the hunt was evidenced by awards like the Award of Honor from Ducks 
Unlimited in 1979.
  The bottom line of both the traditional, and the anything-but-
traditional, that marked John G was that he loved Charleston, the 
Lowcountry, and the people that make it special. At times that would 
mean him regaling us with side-splitting stories out at Halidon Hill, 
other times it meant he'd be charging through the woods and waters of 
the Lowcountry. He would intersperse these pleasures with his passion 
for bringing great food to others and what he created in Charleston Bay 
Gourmet.
  I remember getting a dinner from him over at the Mt. Pleasant Farmers 
Market, and watching him at work there at the food trailer fit with 
what Dr. Martin Luther King said years ago on passion in the work at 
hand. He cared, and it showed.
  John will be missed. I wish him the greatest of hunting in the great 
delta we will all one day see. He touched my life, just as he touched 
those of all who were lucky enough to spend time with him. So, 
accordingly, I ask that we observe a moment of silence in his honor.

                          ____________________