[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 159 (Wednesday, September 26, 2018)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1311]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




             COMMEMORATING THE LIFE OF REP. LEONARD BOSWELL

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. COLLIN C. PETERSON

                              of minnesota

                    in the house of representatives

                     Wednesday, September 26, 2018

  Mr. PETERSON. Mr. Speaker, I rise to recognize my colleague and 
friend, Leonard Boswell.
  Leonard and I served together as members of the Agriculture Committee 
throughout his time in Washington, and he served as Subcommittee Chair 
for Livestock and Foreign Agriculture. We worked together through good 
times and bad, and I always respected his upfront and straightforward 
approach to his work.
  Leonard was about getting stuff done, which is what I liked so much 
about him. He was relentlessly bipartisan and always looking for a 
middle ground. He had a gruff exterior--and if you were on the wrong 
side of an issue, he'd let you know--but beneath it all was a person 
who understood and deeply cared not only about the issues, but even 
more about the people he represented. Leonard fought for those people 
as passionately as anyone I've ever worked with.
  He is a man who answered the call to serve in every aspect of his 
life. After college, he was drafted into the Army where he earned an 
officer's commission and flew hundreds of missions as a helicopter 
pilot in Vietnam. When that service ended, he served his southern Iowa 
community in the state Senate for more than a decade. Always one to 
keep pushing, Leonard went on to serve Iowa's Third District for 16 
years in Washington. He left in 2013, but at almost 79, he still wasn't 
done. Then-governor Terry Branstad appointed him to serve on the Iowa 
Transportation Commission. He also served on the commission for the 
Dwight D. Eisenhower Memorial, which will open next spring.
  Leonard's was a life lived for others--for his wife Dody, for his 
family, for his community and state, and for farmers across this 
country. One of my fondest memories of Leonard was deer hunting with 
muzzleloaders in Centerville, Iowa in the rain. We missed the deer but 
had a great time and it was the beginning of a great friendship. There 
were so many things that made Leonard a great public servant, and there 
were many more that made Leonard and I friends, and I will miss dearly 
what he brought to this body.

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