[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 143 (Monday, September 9, 2019)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1110-E1112]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     HONORING DR. WALTER S. McAFEE

                                 ______
                                 

                       HON. CHRISTOPHER H. SMITH

                             of new jersey

                    in the house of representatives

                       Monday, September 9, 2019

  Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Madam Speaker, as a result of legislation I 
introduced (H.R. 3655) which was signed into law (P.L. 115-151), more 
than 200 people gathered outside the U.S. Post Office located on Main 
Street in Belmar, NJ at a ceremony to rename the building in honor of 
Dr. Walter S. McAfee--an extraordinary scientist, educator, and 
innovator.
  Attending the event were many family members, friends and coworkers 
of Dr. McAfee's, including his sister, Velma McAfee-Williams, who 
turned 90 last week, and his daughters Marsha McAfee Bera-Morris and 
Diane Mercedes McAfee.
  Also present to pay tribute to Dr. McAfee was: Belmar Mayor Mark 
Walsifer; USPS South Jersey District Manager James Drummer; Belmar 
Postmaster John Mutchler, III; Mike Ruane, the CEO of InfoAge Science & 
History Center; and elected officials from Monmouth County, neighboring 
Lake Como and Wall Township.
  Dr. McAfee was a brilliant scientist. His breakthrough research and 
mathematical theories led to bouncing radio signals off the moon's 
surface. His unique work served as the forerunner for satellite 
communications, entry into the space age, moonshots and moonwalks.
  Dr. McAfee is also known for his many innovations and successful 
projects including sensors he pioneered to assist the military in 
keeping tabs on aggressive actors--tools that saved the lives of many 
Americans and our allies.
  And we remembered and honored Dr. McAfee for his lifelong commitment 
to learning--including his tenure as a professor at Monmouth College 
and service as Chairman of the Board at Brookdale Community College.
  As an African-American, Dr. McAfee overcame adversity and prejudice 
with courage, tenacity and faith. His amazing life inspires. He 
challenges us to strive for excellence. He is truly a role model.

[[Page E1111]]

  In closing, I would like to include in the Record, the moving and 
heart-warming remarks given by Dr. McAfee's daughter, Marsha McAfee 
Bera-Morris, and nephew, Dr. Leo Cecil McAfee, Jr.


                  Remarks by Marsha McAfee Bera-Morris

       Good morning. Congressman Smith, Mayor Walsifer, District 
     Manager Drummer, Postmaster Mutchler, family and friends. I 
     am Marsha McAfee Bera-Morris, the younger (or second) 
     daughter of Walter Samuel and Viola Winston McAfee.
       On behalf of the entire McAfee family, I would like to 
     thank Congressman Smith and his staff and ``the leaders of 
     the Information Age Learning Center (or InfoAge)'' for their 
     efforts and persistence in the honoring of our father/
     brother/uncle/granduncle/etc. by renaming the Belmar Post 
     Office as the ``Dr. Walter S. McAfee Post Office Building.'' 
     We all greatly appreciate this honor and the opportunity that 
     this renaming ceremony affords us to celebrate his memory and 
     share our thoughts about his lifelong effort to contribute to 
     science and its service to the nation.
       My father was deeply interested in education throughout his 
     entire lifetime. He taught briefly at a Champion Junior High 
     School in Columbus, Ohio. He also taught part-time at a 
     couple of New Jersey colleges, including Monmouth College, 
     while employed by the Army.
       I would like to share with you just a bit of my personal 
     perspective on his love of astrophysics. I can remember him 
     waking me up, along with my sister Diane--at our request [a 
     request that he probably encouraged]--to see meteor showers 
     or lunar eclipses. Space physics was one of his true loves. 
     The summer I turned 12, a significant age for air fares, the 
     4 of us traveled to Europe. Three (3) of us were on vacation; 
     he was doing research on what, I think, were large radar 
     installations.
       At home, he would often help with homework. But he would 
     never seem to just answer a question. Rather, he would ask 
     questions, backtracking until he found something that I or my 
     sister Diane had mastered. He would then bring us forward to 
     the subject matter about which we had inquired. Sometimes 
     this was interesting; more often, it was quite exasperating. 
     But he instilled in his two daughters a desire to master 
     their selected fields of endeavor. And finally, it was almost 
     impossible to argue with my father; logic and reason had to 
     govern any discussion.
       About 15 years ago, I got my hands on a copy of a speech my 
     father had given. His speech concerned his own education and 
     the almost unbelievable hardships he had endured and against 
     which he had struggled. My father was born in 1914 in Ore 
     City, Texas. One of nine children to survive beyond age five 
     (5), he grew up in Marshall, Texas. His parents were both 
     educated and ``had strong middle-class values.'' All but one 
     of his siblings earned college degrees. He pointed out in his 
     speech that his parents owned a parcel of land. If they had 
     been sharecroppers, then he might not have continued his 
     education, since, in those days, the landowner could 
     ``determine the fate'' of a sharecropper's children in the 
     educational sphere.
       My father graduated from Wiley College in Marshall, Texas, 
     with a bachelors (B.S.) in mathematics, magna cum laude. I 
     think all or most of his siblings also attended Wiley. Second 
     oldest, he assisted with the expenses of some of his younger 
     siblings. He earned an M.S. in Physics from Ohio State 
     University and a Ph.D. in Physics from Cornell University 
     (under Hans Bethe). It is from his speech that I gather that 
     his most trying time was at Ohio State. Black people were not 
     allowed to be teaching assistants at Ohio State at that time, 
     nor could they stay in the dormitories on campus. At times, 
     my father was working three or four jobs simultaneously to 
     cover the cost of tuition and housing and educational 
     expenses. His department chairman actively discouraged 
     pursuit of a Ph.D. and, according to my father, hollered at 
     him for not taking an Industrial Arts course. He was, after 
     all, only going to be able to go back South to teach in a 
     black school.
       Walter McAfee persevered. His family background, his stay 
     at Wiley, his continued communication with one or more of his 
     teachers from Wiley, plus his own awareness of what he had 
     mastered seem to me to be the chief support for this 
     perseverance. My father maintained a lifelong correspondence 
     with his first physics teacher, Professor McCane of Wiley 
     College, and, so far as I can tell, relied heavily on his 
     advice and support while at Ohio State.
       In his own speech, my father stressed two things: (1) 
     mastery of your subject matter; and (2) perseverance. Before 
     he went on to Cornell University, but after he left Ohio 
     State, my father worked his way through several physics 
     books. He was determined to master the subject matter whether 
     or not his dream of a Ph.D. was achieved.
       My father went to work as a civilian employee of the Army 
     in 1942 or so. He retired in 1985. He died in February of 
     1995. He is best known, I guess, for his mathematical 
     calculations for Project Diana, which involved bouncing radar 
     off the moon. This success has been said to mark the 
     beginning of the Space Age. As you can see, he had a l-o-n-g 
     career with the Army. I will not try to summarize that 
     career. For one thing, while he could and would talk about 
     physics in general, he couldn't and didn't talk about most of 
     the specifics of his job. I do know that, late in his career 
     with the Army, he did some traveling to NATO, and once he 
     mentioned ``night vision.''
       In the 1950s, my father was recognized by President 
     Eisenhower for his work on Project Diana. In 1997, about two 
     and a half years after my father's death, the Army named a 
     building, actually a complex of buildings, ``McAfee Center.'' 
     McAfee Center was located at Fort Monmouth, N.J., and, we are 
     told, the designation was a first at Fort Monmouth for a 
     civilian employee of the Army. After the Fort was scheduled 
     for closure, a cluster of buildings at Aberdeen Proving 
     Grounds in Maryland, was named in his honor.
       Still, to have his name here in this Post Office, a central 
     public building, in the place he called home, raised his 
     family, honed his scientific skills and contributed to major 
     space exploration--this moment provides a singular pride and 
     satisfaction for so many of his family and friends and 
     colleagues.
       I thank you for allowing me to share my thoughts.


            Excerpts of Remarks by Dr. Leo Cecil McAfee, Jr.

       Good Morning,
       My name is Leo McAfee. I am a nephew of Dr. Walter McAfee. 
     My role today is to represent the non-immediate family of 
     Uncle Walter.
       In this role, first I would like to acknowledge the birth 
     family of Uncle Walter, including his mother Susie McAfee and 
     father Luther McAfee.
       Uncle Walter was born into a family of 9 children to become 
     youth and adults. There were 6 sons and 3 daughters, each 
     attended college. Seven or 8 of the siblings earned 
     bachelor's degrees in the Mathematics and Science fields. One 
     of the mathematically oriented siblings is with us today, 
     Aunt Velma, the youngest daughter, who was blessed to just 
     celebrate her 90th birthday in Houston, Texas on Saturday, 
     August 10th, 2019. Please recognize Aunt Velma, the only 
     surviving sibling of Uncle Walter.
       Now for some impact of Uncle Walter in the lives of our 
     family.
       First, Uncle Walter impacted me personally.
       I knew Uncle Walter's Family because of their visits to 
     Grandmother Susie McAfee in Marshall, Texas. We would travel 
     to Marshall to visit with Aunt Vi, Mercedes, Marsha and Uncle 
     Walter. Since I was under age 10, Uncle Walter was only 
     slightly known to me.
       Vividly I remember a day at my elementary school; I was a 
     fifth/sixth grade student at the time. My father, school 
     Principal of my elementary school, proudly showed us a 
     newspaper article reporting that Uncle Walter was a recipient 
     of a Secretary of the Army Presidential Fellowship. This 
     event is vivid in my memory because I decided I wanted to 
     earn a Ph.D. and be a scientist, though I did not know the 
     career of a scientist or of an engineer or for any other 
     professional career other than educator/teacher. That event 
     and day has remained etched and stored in the forefront in my 
     memory for perhaps 63 years now.
       Well I did not become a scientist, but I did earn a Ph.D. 
     in electrical engineering in 1970 at the University of 
     Michigan and became the first American of African heritage to 
     become a faculty member in the College of Engineering at the 
     University of Michigan.
       Now, I will tell you a bit of my journey as mentored by 
     Uncle Walter.
       Jump ahead nine or ten years to summer 1965. As a student 
     in the middle of my junior level in college, I accepted a 
     summer job in Poughkeepsie, NY at IBM semiconductor 
     development/manufacturing facility.
       Being in New York, I was encouraged to contact my nearby 
     relative, Uncle Walter.
       To visit, Uncle Walter tried to get me to catch a train or 
     a bus to visit Aunt Vi and him in South Belmar. He quickly 
     realized that this ``country boy'' was hopeless to use public 
     transportation in the NY/NJ region. He arranged to drive to 
     Poughkeepsie to pick me up to stay a weekend at their home; 
     and then take me back to Poughkeepsie at the end of that 
     weekend.
       During that weekend, we discussed my academic record and 
     educational ventures and education goals. Also, we discussed 
     areas of electrical engineering I Preferred (circuits, 
     electronics, semiconductors). Well, semiconductor physics was 
     one of the classes Uncle Walter taught, a class I looked 
     forward to taking. That connection engaged conversations. 
     Also, he knew much about electronics, he being in the 
     Communications-Electronics Command (CECOM) at Fort Monmouth.
       Either that weekend or during another weekend visit, Uncle 
     Walter decided that I was a serious student. He encouraged me 
     to transfer to Monmouth College. He offered that Aunt Vi and 
     he would pay for my education expenses, so my education would 
     be more fundamentally sound based in physics and 
     semiconductor devices.
       My viewpoint was that in another 14 months, I would be able 
     to start graduate study at a top university in the United 
     States, and would be able to strengthen my fundamentals. 
     After further discussion, Uncle Walter seemed to accept my 
     viewpoint.
       During summers 1968, 1969, 1971, I had summer positions at 
     Bell Labs in Murray Hill, NJ and IBM in Yorktown Heights, NY 
     twice, the two superior industry research labs in the United 
     States. Again, for each summer, I was near Uncle Walter and 
     Aunt Vi. Uncle Walter and I had numerous mentoring contacts 
     during those three summers.

[[Page E1112]]

       After I started my 40-year faculty career at the University 
     of Michigan, in the early 1970's, Uncle Walter visited 
     researchers at the University of Michigan, including managing 
     a project at the Willow Run Laboratories that was the site 
     for highly confidential research. During his visit, we had 
     some serious career decisions discussions. Though I liked 
     circuits and electronics, many top electrical engineers 
     thought those fields were past their hey-day. I clearly 
     remember Uncle Walter telling me to stick to the areas that I 
     liked, and that my work would find more than enough rich 
     areas to study and to make contributions. Again, he was 
     correct. I was part of the pioneering field of numerical 
     mathematical computer modeling of circuits and semiconductor 
     electronic devices.
       Next, Uncle Walter impacted three generations in the McAfee 
     (and Lester) family.
       He impacted the first generation--the nieces and nephews of 
     Uncle Walter--which included me, my siblings, McAfee first 
     cousins, and the Lester first cousins.
       He impacted the second generation--the grand-nieces and 
     grand-nephews of Uncle Walter. Each of my three children did 
     a report on Uncle Walter several years in elementary, middle, 
     and high school. Children of my siblings did reports on Uncle 
     Walter. And children of first cousins did reports on Uncle 
     Walter, even children of first cousins on my mother's side 
     (Lester) did reports.
       He impacted the third generation--the great-grand-nieces 
     and great-grand-nephews of Uncle Walter. Children of grand-
     nieces & grand-nephews are still doing reports on Uncle 
     Walter.
       Uncle Walter had major notoriety regarding the moon with 
     his contributions in Project Diana. Just last month, NASA, 
     the USA, and the world celebrated the 50th anniversary of 
     first landing on the moon by humans, partially made possible 
     by the work of Uncle Walter in Project Diana.
       In closing, a bit of Big Ten conference razzing, hopefully 
     humor for sports fans.
       As a family, my children and I are die-heart University of 
     Michigan alumni; we bleed U-M maize and blue. The one strike/
     complaint against Uncle Walter is his attending Ohio State 
     University, U-M's arch Big Ten rival in all collegiate 
     sports, especially football.
       In baseball terminology, attending Ohio State was initially 
     a called strike against Uncle Walter. However, Uncle Walter 
     ``hit a home-run out the park'' with his spectacular 
     technical and personal family successes.
       Thank you.

                          ____________________