[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?
____________________