[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 201 (Wednesday, December 6, 2023)]
[House]
[Page H6149]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
HONORING NOAH MacMILLAN
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from
Maryland (Mr. Raskin) for 5 minutes.
Mr. RASKIN. Mr. Speaker, I rise this morning to honor my neighbor and
my young friend, Noah MacMillan, who we lost last July when he died of
complications from colon cancer at the age of 33 years old.
What an honor it is to speak to America this morning about Noah
MacMillan. Noah's brilliance, his gentle soul, and his boundless
creativity live on in the hearts of everybody he touched, in the truly
extraordinary and imperishable art that he left behind, and in the
beautiful devotion of his remarkable parents, Jeff MacMillan and
Lucinda Leach; and his brothers, Seth and Julian.
Noah was an accomplished artist. He was a talented athlete and a
soccer player. He was a gifted chef, and he was a generous teacher.
His stunning and thought-provoking illustrations were accomplished in
a variety of news outlets, including The New York Times, Smithsonian
Magazine, Bloomberg Business, Sports Illustrated, and Riverfront Times,
to name just a few of the places that recognized his exceptional art.
One of the crowning achievements of Noah's life and one of his final
projects was an illustration that fused his passions for exuberant,
colorful art and for the game of soccer.
The vibrant stamp that you see next to me here bursting with energy
and power honors the electrifying achievements of women's soccer in
America.
It was released by the United States Postal Service at the beginning
of this year, 2023. Now, countless little replicas of Noah's art are
flying all across the country on envelopes and packages, inspiring
artists and athletes, especially young girl soccer players everywhere,
all over America and all over the world.
Noah first came to battle cancer at the age of 23. He had the same
oncological surgeon that I had at Johns Hopkins; Dr. Efron.
Noah's quiet courage and insistence on living joyfully carried him
through treatment and through a lot of times of adversity over the next
10 years of his life.
In that intervening decade before colon cancer stole this splendid
young man from us, he lived with great purpose and great passion and an
unwavering dedication to his art and to the people in his life who he
loved and was devoted to.
To honor Noah's generosity and his creativity, his loving family has
launched a scholarship in his honor at his alma mater, Washington
University in St. Louis.
This fund will make it possible for a high school student artist to
attend the same summer program at Wash U. in St. Louis that gave Noah
the confidence and the skills to pursue his dreams of becoming an
artist and an illustrator, a dream that led just one of his pieces of
art to become a stamp in our country.
Noah was not only a remarkable artist, he was an astonishingly quick-
witted and gentle and loving human being.
He left an indelible mark on everyone who knew him, including his
fantastic care team led by Dr. Jonathan Efron and nurse practitioner
Tam Warczynski.
Noah is survived by his fiancee, Hitomi Inoue; his devoted parents,
Jeffrey and Lucinda; his two loving brothers, Julian and Seth; his
extended family; countless friends and neighbors; grateful, loving
students; and, of course, his timeless amazing art, which now the
entire country will get to enjoy.
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