[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 18 (Tuesday, January 28, 2020)]
[Senate]
[Pages S630-S631]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         TRIBUTE TO CARY JONES

  Mr. WYDEN. Mr. President, I want to take a few minutes today to honor 
Cary Jones, an Oregonian retiring after a long career in the Coast 
Guard and the Department of Veterans Affairs. The bottom line is Mr. 
Jones has embraced and embodied the essence of public service 
throughout his distinguished career.
  He joined the Coast Guard in 1976 and was stationed in Honolulu, 
Seattle, and Coos Bay. He served for several years aboard the USCGC 
Boutwell, a high-endurance cutter used to intercept smuggling vessels.

[[Page S631]]

  Mr. Jones left the Coast Guard in 2001 as a senior chief yeoman, and 
he could have sailed off into an easy retirement. Instead, he went to 
work for the VA, where he would spend nearly two decades helping Oregon 
veterans. He served in a number of roles at the Portland VA Medical 
Center, but in every capacity he sought to do right by veterans. He 
worked with my Portland staff for years, and if you ever want to get 
one of them going, just ask how helpful Cary Jones was. They will tell 
you he worked on more than 10,000 congressional inquiries, each of 
which represented an attempt to help an Oregon veteran or military 
family.
  Cary Jones is a shining example of what public service is supposed to 
be all about. He has always been one of the good guys, in it for the 
right reasons, and always laser-focused on lifting up people who need a 
little bit of help.
  Mr. Jones' career reminds me of a quote by the famous naturalist John 
Burroughs: ``For anything worth having one must pay the price; and the 
price is always work, patience, love, self-sacrifice--no paper 
currency, no promises to pay, but the gold of real service.''
  And so today I say thank you to Senior Chief Yeoman Cary Jones for 
his work, patience, love and self-sacrifice.
  I say thank you for leading by example, for showing countless 
Oregonians that public service is a noble calling, and for paying the 
gold of real service.
  I wish you the best as you embark on your well-deserved retirement.

                          ____________________