[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 209 (Thursday, December 10, 2020)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1130-E1131]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        REMEMBERING JEREMY DODD

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. JOHN B. LARSON

                             of connecticut

                    in the house of representatives

                      Thursday, December 10, 2020

  Mr. LARSON of Connecticut. Madam Speaker, on Monday, December 7th, I 
attended the funeral service of a dear friend and mentor. A complex, 
sensitive, intuitive observer of this human comedy we call life. Jeremy 
Dodd was a remarkable man. I include in the Record this brief 
introduction is his obituary written by his son, Owen, and a poem 
entitled, ``The Dash.''
  In 1978, Jeremy and I worked down the hall from one another. I knew 
of him because his father was a United States Senator from Connecticut, 
who the Irish and Americans across the country had always taken great 
pride in his role in the Nuremberg Trials, and also his brother Chris, 
who at the time was the sitting member of Congress from the 2nd 
District and would go on to follow his father and become a United 
States Senator. Jeremy historically and culturally knew politics, he 
gained that knowledge from growing up in a family immersed in it. 
Beyond politics, he could conduct

[[Page E1131]]

conversations on any subject, from sports, to theater, literature, art, 
and photography--he had a feel for life and a keen way of listening to 
others. Moreover, a very likable man able to focus in on the simple 
aspect of human interaction--the handshake, the greeting, and a smile. 
Most of all, he was great fun, always able to use self-deprecating 
humor and weave stories of life, history and literature from his unique 
perspective. That perspective was usually made clearer or more fuzzy 
depending on what we ordered from the top shelf. He was above all 
genuine, not without his faults, but his virtue far surpassed what he 
would call his inconsistencies. He was great company: engaging, quick-
witted, and loved a good laugh.
  The funeral was in the ancestral neighborhood of his grandparents and 
where his father, Tom, and his mother, Grace, are buried in an old 
Irish cemetery. The center of which was the Church of St. Michael the 
Archangel built by the Irish who lived in the area. The wooden beams, 
the stained-glass window, the tiled floor, wooden confessional, all 
works of art in their own right.
  Before the funeral began, I had the opportunity to talk with Owen, 
Jeremy's son who was my press secretary, and present him with a flag 
flown over the United States Capitol in his father's honor. I also 
spoke with his uncle, United States Senator Chris Dodd, whom I had been 
a district coordinator for in his 1980 run for the Senate and when I 
came to the Congress in 1998 he took me under his wing and always gave 
wise counsel and stellar advice. He told me he was going through 
Jeremy's belongings and came across this poem that Jeremy was very fond 
of. He then thanked me for being there and gave me this poem called 
``The Dash.''
  It is my honor to introduce it and include it in the Congressional 
Record. This poem, written by Linda Ellis, aptly describes Jeremy, his 
family, his father, his brother U.S. Senator Dodd, his son Owen, and 
the entire Dodd family: a family that was an exemplary example of 
public service, love of country, ever committed to making a more 
perfect union and being defined by their accomplishments between ``The 
Dash.''
       In Loving Memory of a Man Who Took the Road Less Traveled:
       Old Saybrook--Jeremy (Jerry) Murphy Dodd, 82, died 
     peacefully on November 27, 2020, due to complications from 
     Alzheimer's disease. Jerry leaves his loving and only son, 
     Owen M. Dodd, his former spouse Barbara M. Dodd and his four 
     siblings Thomas J. Dodd his spouse Mary O'Neil Dodd, Mary 
     Carolyn Dodd, Senator Christopher J. Dodd and his spouse 
     Jackie Clegg-Dodd, Nicholas Owen Dodd, and his loving friend, 
     Joanne Hoye. He also leaves behind eleven nieces and nephews 
     and an extensive loving family. In addition, Jerry joins his 
     late sister, Martha Dodd-Buonanno. Jerry is the third child 
     of the six children born of Mary Grace and Senator Thomas J. 
     Dodd. He was born in New Haven, CT, on September 23, 1938, 
     amid the New England Hurricane--one of the most destructive 
     and deadliest hurricanes to make landfall in Connecticut. 
     Raised in the Nutmeg State, he called home in North 
     Stonington, Old Lyme, Old Saybrook and West Hartford. He 
     graduated from the Cheshire Academy and then served in both 
     the U.S. Army and the U.S. Coastguard where he was honorably 
     discharged from both services. He then went on to study at 
     Mexico City College, Mexico City, Mexico earning his 
     bachelor's in history. After graduating in 1962, as a fluent 
     Spanish speaker, he hitchhiked through Central and South 
     America during a time of political upheaval and great 
     transition in the region. This momentous time was influential 
     in shaping Jerry's worldview especially as it pertained to 
     helping those who need it the most. Upon returning to the 
     United States, he found his passion in life, photography. 
     Jerry would study photography under the famous photographer 
     John W. Doscher at the Doscher Country School of Photography 
     in Vermont and would go on to take the portraits of 
     Depression Era photographer Walker Evans and the renowned 
     ornithologist and painter, Roger Tory Peterson. Jerry's 
     innate photographic talent focused on families, portraiture, 
     and legal photography, where he excelled and was in high 
     demand across the state. Later in his life, he devoted his 
     time to social work. He worked with community service 
     programs that were committed to the rehabilitation of 
     formerly incarcerated persons as he believed firmly in 
     providing a second chance for people. He believed deeply in 
     his work and it came from a belief of a higher-good where one 
     should work towards something larger than oneself. Jerry was 
     a lover of life who cherished animals, hiking in the White 
     Mountains of New Hampshire, and sailing on the Connecticut 
     River in his wooden boat, Mrs. Jones. He was a voracious 
     reader and lover of history who understood that we all have a 
     story to tell, and he was eager to hear the histories of 
     those he met throughout his life. His indelible humor was 
     contagious to others, and his magnetic personality was a 
     complete joy to be around. He has truly left the world and 
     its inhabitants better than where he found them. There will 
     be a private ceremony at St. Michael the Archangel Church in 
     Pawcatuck, Rhode Island on December 7, 2020, where he will be 
     laid to rest next to his mother and father in the Dodd Family 
     plot.

                                The Dash

                            (By Linda Ellis)

     I read of a man who stood to speak at the funeral of a 
           friend. He referred to the dates on the tombstone from 
           the beginning . . . to the end.
     He noted that first came the date of birth and spoke of the 
           following date with tears, but he said what mattered 
           most of all was the dash between those years.
     For that dash represents all the time they spent alive on 
           earth and now only those who loved them know what that 
           little line is worth.
     For it matters not, how much we own, the cars . . . the house 
           . . . the cash. What matters is how we live and love 
           and how we spend our dash.
     So think about this long and hard; are there things you'd 
           like to change? For you never know how much time is 
           left that still can be rearranged.
     To be less quick to anger and show appreciation more and love 
           the people in our lives like we've never loved before.
     If we treat each other with respect and more often wear a 
           smile . . . remembering that this special dash might 
           only last a little while.
     So when your eulogy is being read, with your life's actions 
           to rehash, would you be proud of the things they say 
           about how you lived your dash?

                          ____________________