[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 192 (Tuesday, November 10, 2020)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6637-S6639]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  REMEMBERING MARY ``ELAINE'' MANLOVE AND LAMBERT ``WAYNE'' MANLOVE, 
   EDWARD MICHAEL RUSH, JR., PASTOR LOTTIE MAE LEE-DAVIS, AND GLORIA 
                             IGNUDO CORROZI

  Mr. COONS. Mr. President, 2020 has been a difficult year for so many. 
We have lost far too many mothers and fathers, sons and daughters, 
sisters and brothers, neighbors and friends.
  My own heart and the hearts of many in Delaware grew heavier this 
week as we said goodbye in Delaware to a whole series of friends, folks 
who had long been champions of our community, folks who were exactly 
the sort of people who helped build and sustain community.
  I am grateful for the privilege of the floor to speak for a few 
minutes about the legacy of these lions of Delaware, these folks who 
were giants of service and who gave their hearts to us.
  On Monday, we said goodbye to Elaine and Wayne Manlove, who were 
loved by so many, and I rise first to pay tribute to them--some of the 
most special people I have ever known.
  They were killed in a tragic accident literally the day before last 
Tuesday's election. On that day, we lost two of Delaware's greatest 
diamonds, Mary ``Elaine'' Manlove and Lambert ``Wayne'' Manlove from 
Hockessin and Ocean View. It was always striking they went not by their 
first names but by their middle names. They were known as Elaine and 
Wayne Manlove. These are proud patriots, people dedicated to our State 
and community who spent decades giving to others.
  Elaine I knew best in her role as State elections commissioner and as 
someone who fought hard here for funding for election security and 
election systems. The very last time I saw her, she was proudly showing 
off the brandnew statewide election system in Delaware. She didn't, 
tragically, get to see the fruits of her labor--the deployment of these 
new, state-of-the-art digital voting machines. Her many professional 
achievements in that role: increasing our voter rolls, modernizing 
machines, bringing elections to the classrooms, carrying off just this 
last Tuesday a near flawless statewide election. While impressive, it 
was just a very small part of who Elaine was.
  Deeply proud of her Irish heritage, known for her kindness and her 
generosity, her Irish Catholic faith that she and Wayne shared was a 
foundation for them and for their family and their lives.
  St. Patrick's Day in Wilmington was often the highlight. Elaine was 
one of the folks who helped organize the annual St. Patrick's Day mass 
and breakfast--a breakfast that raised money for the St. Patrick Center 
that serves some of the neediest and most marginalized in Wilmington 
but a breakfast that was a celebration of the intersection of faith, 
politics, service, hope, and community.
  My own wife Annie worked with Elaine for years in New Castle County 
government long before her time as the State elections commissioner, 
and they remained close for years afterward. Annie knew her as the best 
mom and grandmother and friend to so many people.
  Margaret Aitkin, one of Elaine's closest friends, who also served 
with her and my wife in county government, said:

       Elaine never sought the spotlight, and she never tried to 
     be the center of attention--she was like a warm fire that you 
     just gravitated towards. She wasn't the life of the party; 
     she was the reason for the party.

  Elaine had a special and giving spirit that had a lasting and 
transformative

[[Page S6638]]

difference on thousands of Delawareans, from Kirkwood Soccer, to the 
county, to her work for elections, to her deep commitment to her faith, 
her family, and her community.
  Wayne, her husband of 51 years, was a union electrician, a proud 
member of IBEW Local 313 for 53 years. Wayne loved hosting neighborhood 
dinners, annual crab feasts, watching his beloved Eagles with family 
and friends, and confounding his son because he could never get his 
players straight. He loved sharing the Eagles with all three of his 
sons.
  For Wayne and Elaine, their sons, Matthew, Joe, and Michael, were the 
beginning, middle, and end. The Sun rose and set on their boys. They 
took huge delight in sharing stories about them with everyone who would 
sit still and listen. They did everything it took to put them through 
college and through parochial education. They sacrificed hugely for 
their children, and it made a lasting difference in their lives.
  Once Elaine and Wayne were your friends, they were always your 
friends. They brought together people from grade school, high school, 
from work, and from all different walks of life. They were strongly 
rooted in and connected to St. Elizabeth's parish, where Elaine was 
baptized, where they were married, and where they just last year 
renewed their vows for their 50th wedding anniversary. On Monday, 
hundreds of us gathered to wish them farewell.
  So my condolences, my deep and heartfelt condolences go out to 
Matthew and Meghan, to Joe, to Michael and Mary, to Elaine's brother 
Grant and wife Ruth, and their four grandchildren who gave them such 
joy: Catherine, Elizabeth, Margaret, and Finn.
  I am turning now to consider another Delawarean and friend, someone I 
knew for decades who exemplified character, bravery, and 
integrity. Mike Rush--Edward Michael Rush, Jr., who passed away late 
last month in Bear, was someone who always rose to the tasks and 
challenges at hand--a Marine Corps veteran, a small business owner, a 
firefighter, a member of the American Legion, a stalwart of his parish, 
and a great friend.

  He was a proud graduate of Salesianum High School and Goldey-Beacom 
College and a proprietor and leader of a family-owned business, Rush 
Uniform. He started working there in 1963, and he helped build and lead 
his family-owned business for decades.
  I first really got to know Mike through the Better Business Bureau, 
where he and his family sponsored an award for ethical behavior by a 
family-owned business. He sponsored the Edward M. Rush, Sr. Memorial 
Award.
  Mike was also someone whose whole heart was in the fire service. The 
volunteer fire service in Delaware is one of the backbones of 
communities up and down our State, and he was a life member of two 
volunteer fire companies. He was 50 years with Wilmington Manor, 33 
years with Christiana, president of the New Castle County Volunteer 
Fire Chiefs Association, president of the Delaware Valley Fire Chief's 
Association, and then, ultimately, while I was county executive, 
president of the Delaware State Fire Chiefs Association.
  Mike was also someone who did the hard work of being a fire school 
instructor for our State for 30 years. Mike did so much for so many 
others through his parish, through his fire company, through his 
training service, and through his service to our Nation in the 
military. He has earned accolades for his decades of bravery and his 
commitment to our community.
  But more than anything, because I was not able to make it to his 
service, I wanted to share my condolences and the gratitude of our 
State and Nation for Mike's wife of 45 years, Winnie; his sisters 
Barbara and Catherine; his children Megan and Barbara; and his beloved 
grandson Seamus.
  Let me now turn to another anchor of another community in our State 
and offer greetings and condolences to the family and the beloved of 
Pastor Lottie Lee-Davis. She was an ordained minister from the east 
side of Wilmington and a hallmark of resiliency and faith. She was a 
preacher's daughter, a voice for the voiceless, and a beacon of hope 
for many.
  A friend, Alethea Smith-Tucker, told our Delaware News Journal that 
it was unending how many people Pastor Davis had touched and encouraged 
without judgment and without regard. She was the devoted pastor at Be 
Ready Jesus is Coming Church. She answered the call to serve beyond the 
confines of the pulpit. She provided housing for single mothers and 
their children. She led efforts to renovate parks for the community, 
and she recently garnered funding to build a mixed-use property just a 
block from her church to provide housing for those in need.
  Sadly, that which she launched, she will not get to see come to 
fruition in this life, but I am confident that Pastor Davis will 
continue to inspire and engage and move the community of Wilmington, 
the congregation she helped lead, and the families who will benefit for 
years to come from her vision and her leadership of this project she 
just launched. Her legacy will continue to live through her work.
  I wanted to give my condolences to her husband Flalandas; to her 
daughter Amira; and to members of the congregation, family, and 
friends.
  Last, but certainly not least, this past week we lost someone beloved 
to me and to so many in the Hockessin community, Gloria Ignudo Corrozi. 
Gloria was a mainstay of one of the landmark couples of our State for 
decades.
  Gloria spent 30 years working at DuPont, and like so many of her 
generation who had a successful career at DuPont, she also was engaged 
in lots and lots of other community activities, engagements, and 
services. She spent a lot of her life also helping the Delaware Chapter 
of the American Diabetes Association. She served as cochair and raised 
tens of thousands of dollars year after year after year for this 
important cause.
  But, frankly, her great joy was her family. Her beloved husband of 55 
years, Philip Corrozi, was someone who was an incredible mentor and 
friend to me at work, at home, and in public service. Phil was an 
elected Republican, chairman of the Budget Committee, leader in our 
State general assembly, and someone who, with Gloria's tireless 
affection and support, crafted lasting solutions for our State.
  Gloria was a blessing to an incredible network of friends and family, 
nieces and nephews, all of whom knew her as Aunt Gloria. I had the 
opportunity to get to know her best in the decade I spent working with 
Phil at a global manufacturing firm in Delaware. But Phil Corrozi, 
frankly, was someone who, when he gave his heart to a cause, Gloria was 
right alongside him and often pushing him. For a woman who never had 
children of her own, Gloria had so many people who knew her and thought 
of her as a second mother.
  My heart goes out to Gloria's family and friends who, today, gathered 
at St. Anthony of Padua Church in Wilmington to say their final 
goodbyes to this gracious, kind, funny, giving, loving, powerful woman, 
whose witness was an important influence on my life, as well as so many 
others.
  These are just some of the individuals our community has lost this 
year. Delaware is a State of neighbors, and we all feel these losses 
profoundly.
  There was a strong, common thread amongst those I have just honored 
and those who have been a gift to our State. I want to return to a 
powerful message that Joe, Wayne and Elaine Manlove's son, gave in a 
eulogy just Monday at St. Elizabeth Church. It was funny; it was 
memorable; it was wide-ranging; it was personal; and it was touching. 
But at the conclusion, Joe said this. While today is sad and painful 
and so unexpected for all of us, I want to leave you with this thought: 
When you leave here today thinking of my parents and feeling the void 
in your life, do the following--join a civic committee, help organize 
your kids' Little League, volunteer for something you care about, help 
a neighbor with a home project, and when some email comes out saying 
``We need people to help,'' respond that you are in. Do all of it 
without a thought of compensation. Do it because it is the right thing 
to do. Do it because you want to improve the world around you. Do it 
because there is nothing more powerful than the heart of a volunteer.
  That was them, Wayne and Elaine, but that was also Mike and Lottie 
and Gloria and so many other friends and neighbors who helped weave 
together

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across different backgrounds, different political parties, and 
different places of origin and different communities--they weaved 
together a State of neighbors and left a lasting legacy. That legacy is 
that we love one another as we have been called to do. May we continue 
to be grateful for their legacies of service and live lives that would 
make them and their families proud.
  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. CASSIDY. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Ms. McSally). Without objection, it is so 
ordered.

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