[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 9 (Wednesday, January 15, 2020)]
[House]
[Pages H245-H246]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




             IN REMEMBRANCE OF COLONEL LEE FRANKLIN WITTER

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Illinois (Mr. Shimkus) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. SHIMKUS. Mr. Speaker, Thursday and Friday of next week, I plan to 
visit my alma mater, the United States Military Academy at West Point. 
I hope to spend time with the Department of Social Sciences and thank 
them for their service to our country and for their current job of 
training our next generation of warriors.
  I am sure that many of the faculty also mentor individual cadets. 
During my era, we called it sponsoring. This is a critical part of the 
job that I want to continue to encourage them to do.
  You see, I am headed back to West Point to attend the burial of my 
sponsor, Colonel Witter. I met the Witter family during my first free 
Sunday morning of Beast Barracks. We met at the Lutheran service in the 
Old Cadet Chapel in the cemetery.
  Colonel Witter and his wife, Mary Ellen, and children, Nanette, 
Dorinda, and Mathew, welcomed me into their home. They provided a safe 
haven away from the constant scrutiny of the upper class. They provided 
a full meal now and then when full meals during my era as a plebe were 
not always assured.
  Having been raised in a large family, they provided a second family, 
a younger brother that I never had and two younger sisters that I 
already had plenty of.
  As in any family, sometimes I was helpful and sometimes maybe a 
burden. The Witter family was always there for me, in good times and 
bad. Whether I was breaking the porch swing or kitchen chairs, 
seriously burning Mathew, or spending the night when I was told not to, 
I was also forgiven.
  Colonel Witter took a special focus on my school performance. I was 
on the other dean's list, the list academic deans pay closer attention 
to. Graduation for me was not a slam dunk. Colonel Witter would summon 
me to his office to encourage me and help motivate me academically. 
When I told him I thought I was doing okay, he responded: ``I get your 
grades.''
  I could not have graduated from West Point without the love and 
support from the Witter family. For this, I will be eternally grateful.
  Colonel Witter, 84, passed away Monday, January 6, 2020, in South 
Carolina. This is a picture of him at the military academy as an 
instructor. I was blessed to have a chance to be able to visit with him 
and Mary Ellen a year ago last March.

[[Page H246]]

  Colonel Witter was a native of Wausau, Wisconsin. He was the last 
serving son of 20 children of the late Jerry and Amelia Witter.
  Colonel Witter was a veteran of the United States Army, a retired 
military intelligence officer, and a United States Military Academy 
professor of social sciences at West Point. He was a decorated military 
veteran, earning the Legion of Merit, Bronze Star, Meritorious Service 
Medal, Air Medal, Joint Service Commendation Medal, National Defense 
Service Medal, Humanitarian Service Medal, Vietnam Service Medal with 
two bronze stars, Republic of Vietnam Campaign Medal, and the Combat 
Infantryman Badge. He was preceded in death by his son, Mathew, and all 
of his 19 brothers and sisters.
  Survivors include his wife of 61 years, and my second mom, Mary 
Ellen; two daughters, and my second sisters, Nanette Jordan of Norwalk, 
Connecticut, and Dorinda Selby of Beaufort, South Carolina. He also had 
five grandchildren: Ashley Benusa of Hong Kong; Taylor Jordan of 
Boston, Massachusetts; Zachary Jordan of Waterbury, Connecticut; Senior 
Airman Mathew Selby of Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Tucson, Arizona; 
and Thomas Selby of Beaufort, South Carolina.
  Funeral services were held yesterday at St. John's Lutheran Church in 
Beaufort, South Carolina. I will be attending the burial service, which 
will take place at West Point Military Academy Cemetery on January 24, 
2020, at 10 a.m.
  Mr. Speaker, I conclude with Matthew 25:21: ``His Lord said unto him, 
Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over 
a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into 
the joy of the Lord.''
  Beat Navy.

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