[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 126 (Thursday, July 26, 2018)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1095]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 TRIBUTE TO JOHN ``JACK'' FRANCIS LYNCH

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. STENY H. HOYER

                              of maryland

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, July 26, 2018

  Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, this spring the Fifth District of Maryland 
lost an extraordinary advocate for the men and women of our Armed 
Services and for America's naval engineering at the Pax River Naval Air 
Station. John `Jack' Francis Lynch of St. Ingoes, Maryland, which is in 
St. Mary's County, passed away on May 18 at the age of eighty-five. 
Jack spent his career at Pax River, first as an engineer, then as 
Technical Director, and later as part of the private sector and as an 
early leader of the Southern Maryland Navy Alliance and the Patuxent 
Partnership.
  When he arrived in Southern Maryland in 1955, Jack began a career 
that would see him become one of the most influential individuals in 
the history of Pax River and the region. When he became Technical 
Director at Pax River in 1979, he realized that the installation was at 
a disadvantage compared to other major military installations around 
the country. That was something Jack would not abide. Pax River needed 
more engineers, so he went to Washington and asked that they be hired. 
He got what he asked for. Pax River had no on-site offices in 
Washington, so Jack made the trip to the Pentagon over and over again 
to lobby military leaders on its behalf. By the time he retired from 
government service in 1986, Jack had completely transformed the way 
engineers at Pax River trained and worked.
  After leaving government service, Jack joined Mantech International 
until 1999 and continued to devote himself to Pax River and those who 
serve there throughout that time and after. In the early 1990's, Jack 
and I worked closely together and with other state and local leaders to 
secure funding to build an anechoic chamber at Pax River for the 
precision simulation of aircraft dynamics, the first of its kind in the 
world. We also worked together to ensure that Pax River benefitted from 
consolidation during the 1996 BRAC round, which helped make Southern 
Maryland the hub for aerospace development and testing it is today and 
a center for American engineering. Much of these achievements were the 
result of Jack's efforts to bring stakeholders together into the 
Southern Maryland Navy Alliance. Later, he led the Patuxent 
Partnership, which was also instrumental in growing Pax River and its 
critical role in naval aviation.
  I will miss Jack Lynch, not only for his devotion to Southern 
Maryland and to a strong Navy but also for his optimism and determined 
spirit. I hope my colleagues in the House will join me in thanking Jack 
for his service to our country and in expressing my condolences to his 
wife Patricia Ann ``Trixie;'' their son Thomas and daughter-in-law 
Susan; their son Paul and daughter-in-law Kimberly; their son Patrick 
and daughter-in-law Kathy; and their ten grandchildren and three great-
grandchildren. May Jack's memory bring them joy and comfort, as it 
surely will inspire all of us in Southern Maryland to carry on the work 
he cherished.

                          ____________________