[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 22 (Thursday, February 3, 2022)]
[Senate]
[Pages S515-S516]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                        Remembering Frank Moore

  Mr. WYDEN. Mr. President, I rise today to remember the late Frank 
Moore of Oregon. Frank passed away last month at 98.
  The story of Frank Moore is really at least three stories. It is a 
story about a war hero; it is a story about a natural resources hero; 
and it is a love story, which is the only way to describe his wonderful 
marriage with his wife Jeanne, who survives him.
  To begin, Frank will always be remembered in our corner of the Nation 
as a legendary fly fisherman who channeled his love of the Umpqua River 
into protecting and preserving this extraordinary natural treasure in 
Southern Oregon.
  It has been said in fishing circles:

       Most of the world is covered by water. A fisherman's job is 
     simple: Pick out the best parts.

  And my friend Frank picked out, consistently, the best parts of his 
extraordinary life, and all of us as Oregonians are better off for his 
good judgments about the Umpqua and about so much else in Oregon.
  After returning to our State from World War II, storming Utah Beach 
at Normandy on D-day and later fighting at the Battle of the Bulge, 
Frank bought the Steamboat Inn with his wife and work teammate, Jeanne. 
Together, they provided generations of

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visitors an unmatched recreation experience on the North Umpqua.
  In the decades that followed, Frank became a fly fisherman so, so 
revered, so quintessentially Oregon, that he could count our late 
Governor, Tom McCall--an extraordinary fisherman in his own right--as 
just a fishing buddy. We call it the Oregon Way, where Oregonians come 
together to keep our State so special for living, working, and raising 
a family.
  I will tell the Presiding Officer, I know Oregon is a long way from 
Georgia, but the fact is, there isn't anything that is more ``Oregon 
Way,'' that shortens the distance between Oregon and the rest of the 
country, than priorities like fishing and having a special relationship 
with somebody like Tom McCall.
  With respect to his war heroism, in addition to earning France's 
highest award of merit for his World War II service, we saw Frank's 
extraordinary accomplishments in Oregon when we talked about his work 
in natural resources and what we saw when he got together with friends, 
and I am going to talk about one particularly eventful meeting.
  Frank was named Oregon's Wildlife Federation's Conservationist of the 
Year in 1969. He served on the State Fish and Wildlife Commission from 
1971 to 1974. He was among the leaders in getting passed the Oregon 
Forest Practices law to protect fish in streams. He earned the 
International Federation of Fly Fishers Conservationist of the Year 
Award in 2003, and he was inducted into the Fresh Water Fishing Hall of 
Fame in 2010.
  I had a chance to have some of the most memorable experiences I have 
had in public service with Frank Moore. Back when I was chairman of the 
Energy and Natural Resources Committee, I remember being in the 
backyard of the Ratzlaffs, Jim and Jane Ratzlaff, of Roseburg, OR. Jim 
has passed. I continue to stay in touch with Jane. And in their 
backyard one wonderful day, where my former staffer, Mary Gautreaux, 
who is up in Heaven listening to this discussion, the late Mary 
Gautreaux, we conceived of the idea of all working together to protect 
100,000 acres of public lands in the Steamboat Creek watershed for 
steelhead preservation.

  I say to the Presiding Officer, as former chairman of the committee, 
I have been through some of the rituals that we all see in the 
committee process--and I am sure my colleague has gnashed his teeth 
over one or two of them already--but one of the things that we noted 
early on is that this incredible love affair between Frank and Jeanne 
that went on for decades didn't really fit into the legislative process 
so I wanted to name a Frank and Jeanne Moore Wild Steelhead Sanctuary 
after both of them because they were partners in life, partners at the 
Steamboat Inn, partners in everything.
  Well, I just checked in with the inimitable David Brooks, who is our 
guy at the Energy and Natural Resources Committee who has worked for 
decades on preserving these treasures. At the time, David reminded me, 
you really had a tradition of not being able to name one of these bills 
to protect your treasures after two people. It was not like it was a 
law; it was a tradition, but members felt kind of strongly about it. I 
won't mention any names.
  But Frank Moore, when I told him that, he said: Ron, I love you to 
pieces, but this bill has got to be named for both of us because we 
have been partners in life. We have been partners in the Steamboat Inn 
and in the sanctuary and the like.
  So I went back and told David Brooks about this. And, finally, I am 
not sure everybody actually agreed to name it after Frank and Jeanne, 
this wonderful love affair, but I just basically did it. And around 
here, as the Presiding Officer knows, sometimes if you do it, other 
people won't raise a fuss. That is how Frank Moore of Southern Oregon 
ensured that, for all time, we would have a wonderful place known as 
the Frank and Jeanne Moore Wild Steelhead Sanctuary, as a monument to 
make sure, for generations to come, young people would have a special 
place to go.
  I would just note, because I talked to her just a few minutes ago, 
that Colleen Moore Bechtel, who is a teacher at West Intermediate 
School in Sutherlin--she and her class may be watching this proceeding 
today. They were trying to figure out how to get C-SPAN on live. I will 
have more to say about Colleen before I wrap up.
  But I am so pleased because that is exactly what Frank and Jeanne, to 
this day, have always wanted--was to make sure that our treasures, our 
really special places, would be there for the future. So I am hoping, 
if they weren't able to see it live, that Colleen will be able to show 
these remarks to all the kids at the Douglas County school, West 
Intermediate in Sutherlin, what their U.S. Senator thought about Frank 
Moore.
  The last time I visited with Frank and Jeanne in October 2020, 
circumstances had really dealt them a tough hand. We had a horrible 
fire known as the Archie Creek Fire. It had destroyed the log cabin 
that Frank had built above the Umpqua, and Frank and Jeanne were living 
with their daughter, Colleen, and her family in Glide. But you would 
have never known from Frank about that loss of a lifetime's work and 
care.
  Instead, that fall afternoon, on a pretty front porch in rural 
Douglas County, Frank came striding out onto the porch with that 
wonderful smile, a bone-crushing handshake, and one joke after another, 
with a twinkle in his eyes. He was always optimistic about our State, 
an optimist on that day right after his treasured home had been ravaged 
by fire.

  He never wavered from that focus. In fact, this past July, I was so 
pleased that he wrote an opinion piece in our publication, Eugene's 
Register-Guard, that detailed how the ``wild & scenic river'' 
designation had helped the North Umpqua. He talked about his 
involvement with me to promote the River Democracy Act--a really fresh 
approach endorsed by hundreds of small, rural businesses to ensure that 
we preserve our treasures and also tap the full potential for the 
recreation economy.
  Now, there have been a lot of recent remembrances of Frank, and 
almost all of them talk about him being a giant of Oregon. Those 
characterizations--certainly of his impact on the southern part of my 
State and our entire State--are on point. I want to make sure, though, 
that something else that Frank said can stick with me. He was always 
quoted as saying the important thing was that Jeanne was with him.
  Referring to Jeanne, his wife of 79 years, Frank said:

       I have the treasure with me. That's my treasure.

  And I can tell the Presiding Officer that virtually every time I saw 
this wonderful couple, they were holding hands. It just said it all--
holding hands. And they had been married for 79 years.
  So tonight I just want to say to Jeanne, to all of Frank's loved 
ones, to all of the kids who may be following this in Oregon schools, I 
am just going to add: Frank is always going to be Oregon's treasure. 
And on behalf of Oregonians, who are certainly scattered almost 
everywhere, I thank you for sharing Frank with all of us. And I am 
speaking on behalf of Oregonians everywhere.
  Through the Frank and Jeanne Moore Wild Steelhead Sanctuary and so 
many other ``best parts'' that Frank leaves as his legacy, Frank Moore 
will never be forgotten.
  With that, I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Oregon.

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