[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 89 (Tuesday, May 12, 2020)]
[Senate]
[Page S2384]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         REMEMBERING GREG ZANIS

  Mr. DURBIN. Madam President, in this season of great mourning, last 
Monday, America lost a man who tried for years--during some of our 
darkest moments--to comfort our grief-stricken Nation.
  His name was Greg Zanis, but he was known as ``The Cross Man.'' One 
month ago, he was diagnosed with terminal cancer. Last Friday, Mr. 
Zanis, his wife Sue, and their grown children watched from inside the 
Zanis family home in Aurora, IL, as a parade of neighbors drove past to 
show their love and respect for Greg.
  This caravan of caring stretched for a mile and included more than 
320 cars, trucks, SUVs, and motorcycles. It was a fitting tribute to a 
quiet man whose compassion and sacrifice helped ease the grief of 
countless Americans over the last 25 years.
  You may never have heard his name before, but chances are you may 
have seen his work. After the Columbine High School massacre in 1999 
and nearly every mass shooting and natural disaster since then, Greg 
Zanis crafted wooden memorials to honor the fallen. Over nearly 20 
years, he made and personally delivered some 27,000 handmade memorials 
to communities across America. Most were crosses, but he also crafted 
wooden Stars of David and crescent moons to honor the fallen.
  He drove to Sandy Hook, CT, after 26 children and educators were 
murdered in that grade school. He drove to Florida to honor the victims 
of the Pulse Nightclub shooting and returned a heartbreaking short time 
later after the Parkland High School mass shooting. He drove to Las 
Vegas after 58 people were killed at a music festival; to the First 
Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, TX, after 26 worshippers were 
killed; to Pittsburgh, PA, to honor the 11 worshippers killed at the 
Tree of Life Synagogue.
  Greg Zanis considered his work a ministry, and it cost him 
financially and emotionally. He was a master carpenter who gave up much 
of the work he did otherwise to make and deliver these memorials. When 
he heard of a mass shooting or a deadly natural disaster, he loaded up 
his truck with crosses and drove, sometimes leaving in the middle of 
the night so he could get there as quickly as possible. One friend said 
that Mr. Zanis often wasn't sure, when he left home, how he would get 
the gas money to get back to Aurora. Somehow, he always did.
  He was in Aurora a little over a year ago, February 2019, when the 
epidemic of mass shootings came to his hometown. Five workers were 
killed, five police officers wounded at a mass shooting at a warehouse. 
The tragedy hit Mr. Zanis hard. As he told a reporter for the New York 
Times, he could drive away from all the other tragedies, but he said, 
``I'm not going to be able to get away from this one.''
  His ministry didn't take him only to places of mass suffering and 
death; he also made crosses for individuals. He made 700 crosses 
carried down Michigan Avenue in Chicago to honor those who died in that 
great city in 1 year.
  He made his first cross in 1996 to honor his father-in-law, who had 
been murdered in a shooting. He learned from that experience that 
transforming wood into symbols of faith helped to make grief more 
bearable. That is the gift that he tried to share with others.
  The mass shooting at a Walmart in El Paso last September shook him 
deeply. Among the 22 killed and 23 wounded were little children 
shopping for school supplies with their parents. Between the heat of 
the south Texas sun and the enormity of their losses, Mr. Zanis 
struggled to make enough crosses. He decided, after that, that he had 
to retire from his ministry. He was 69 years old. A few months later, 
his cancer was diagnosed.
  In this time, when so many of the usual customs of grieving must be 
suspended, may we all find some consolation and inspiration in the 
extraordinary, ordinary man who helped to ease the grief of so many.
  I yield the floor.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. McCONNELL. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the 
order for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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