[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 181 (Thursday, November 15, 2018)]
[House]
[Pages H9534-H9535]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                             PAYING TRIBUTE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Tennessee (Mr. Duncan) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. DUNCAN of Tennessee. Mr. Speaker, as I near the end of my 30 
years in the Congress, it is only natural to reminisce just a bit.
  During my first term in the House, a roving photographer for Roll 
Call stopped me to ask a sort of humorous question. He asked: If there 
was a statue of you in the Capitol, where would it be and what would it 
say? I said: It would probably be in the basement, and it would say: 
Lucky to be here.
  I have always felt very lucky to have this job, and everyone on both 
sides of the aisle have been very kind to me. But I want to pay tribute 
this morning to the three people most responsible for me being here.
  A friend of mine in Knoxville told me a few years ago that I won the 
lottery with parents. I had never thought of it in that way, but it is 
true. My grandparents in Scott County, Tennessee, were wonderful 
people, but they had no money, 10 kids, an outhouse, subsistence farm--
pure Appalachia.
  My dad hitchhiked into Knoxville with $5 in his pocket to go to the 
University of Tennessee and worked his way through. Twenty years after 
coming to Knoxville, he was elected mayor and led the peaceful 
integration of our city. He got about 95 percent of the African 
American vote in three nonpartisan races for mayor.
  He then preceded me in Congress, serving 23\1/2\ years and becoming 
the ranking Republican on the Ways and Means Committee. A former 
Democratic congressman from Pennsylvania told me one time: Your dad was 
the only man I knew who never had an enemy in this town.
  I once described my father as the kindest, sweetest, toughest, 
hardest working man I ever knew, and I meant tough in a good way. I got 
a really nice handwritten letter from Peyton Manning about that 
article. He said he had flown out of Knoxville the day it was in the 
paper and that he could tell from that article that I had the same kind 
of relationship with my dad that he has with his.
  My mother was 2 years older than my father and, after college in 
Iowa, came to Knoxville to visit an older sister who had married an 
engineering graduate from the University of Iowa and who had gotten a 
job at TVA. Her sister talked her into staying, and she met my dad at a 
YWCA dance.
  Dad told one of his brothers that night that he had met the woman he 
was going to marry, and 3 months later, in Iowa City, Iowa, they were 
married, in May of 1942. The odds against a farm boy from Tennessee 
meeting and marrying a girl from Iowa City must have been billions to 
one, but theirs was truly a marriage made in heaven.
  No one ever loved me as much as my mother did, and several times I 
have told women from the Midwest that I have a very high opinion of 
women from that part of the country because I thought my mother was the 
sweetest woman in the world.
  My wife, Lynn, was a waitress in Knoxville's finest restaurant when I 
met her. She later said she married me even though I gave her the 
lowest tips of any of her regular customers.
  Lynn has been my strongest supporter and biggest critic, my number 
one adviser. I honestly believe, if she had been elected to Congress 
instead of me, she would have gone much further than I have. She is 
certainly the speaker of our house and the love of my life for more 
than 40 years.
  During my 30 years in Congress, I was in Washington a lot and gone a 
lot,

[[Page H9535]]

even when I was home. She had to raise four children, and all four have 
made us both very proud. During much of that time, she worked at full-
time jobs, worked in all of my campaigns, and took care of most things 
at home. It certainly was not easy.

  Once President Trump, when he was running, told her: Your husband 
sounds just like me. Lynn told him: Yes, I know--great for the country 
but hell to live with.
  I could not have had a better wife and certainly could not have 
stayed in Congress for 30 years if she had not done all she has done 
for me and our children.
  She gave me four children and nine grandchildren, all now living in 
Knoxville. What a blessing. Our daughter, Tara, has been for several 
years the head of the Knox County probation office. She has two 
children. Whitney has three daughters and is a leader in all the 
activities of the Christian Academy of Knoxville.
  Our son, John, was elected as trustee for Knox County, receiving the 
highest vote total of anyone on the ballot that year, including me. He 
did a great job, serving 3 years, and then took over running my 
campaigns in 2014 and 2016 and representing me all over the district. 
He also is a successful realtor. Our son, Zane, worked for several 
years as a railroad executive and now serves on the Tennessee Parole 
Board. The boys both have two children, and the nine grandchildren 
range in age from 3 to 15.
  I told my youngest granddaughter, Emma, who is 7 years old, at my 
younger son's wedding party: One of the happiest days of my life will 
be when I get to come to your wedding. She looked at me like I had said 
something really silly. She said: Oh, Papa, you couldn't do that. You 
would be dead.
  But I am not dead yet, and I am going home mainly to spend more time 
with those nine grandchildren.
  Lou Gehrig, the great baseball player, once said he was the luckiest 
man in the world, even though he knew he was dying with ALS. I am much 
luckier and very, very thankful.

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