[Congressional Record Volume 171, Number 194 (Tuesday, November 18, 2025)]
[Senate]
[Pages S8200-S8201]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       THE BALLAD OF JANE GOODALL

  Mr. WHITEHOUSE. Mr. President, in fond memory of Dame Jane Goodall, 
1934-2025, Explorers Club Fellow, Honorary Member, and Explorers Club 
Medalist, by L. M. Levie:

       There's a tale explorers tell, of a girl with drive and 
     dreams, Who was born in Hampstead, London in a home of modest 
     means, With a small toy chimp named Jubilee clutched close 
     against her heart, And a yearning for the wilderness, 
     imprinted from the start.
       She would read of Doctor Dolittle and apes of Tarzan's 
     land, While her mother, kind and gentle, held her daughter's 
     reaching hand. Though she had no lofty pedigree from 
     university, Jane set out upon a mission that would change 
     humanity.
       Jane would save all of her wages, every shilling, pence and 
     pound, And she booked a ship to Africa, to Kenya she was 
     bound. In the camp of Louis Leakey, digging age-old skulls 
     from earth, He found something in her manner, recognized her 
     hidden worth.
       ``You shall study chimpanzees in the wilds of Gombe Stream, 
     You shall live among the primates and fulfill your childhood 
     dream.'' So at twenty-six she ventured to Tanzania's lake 
     shore, Where no woman dared go solo, where no scholar went 
     before.
       And at first the chimps would scatter, running fearful 
     through the trees, But she sat there day and nighttime under 
     sun and rain and breeze. `Til one ancient male named David 
     with a beard of silver-gray, Took a nut from Jane's kind 
     outstretched hand and gently squeezed to say:
       ``You are welcome here among us, you may watch us, you may 
     learn.'' And upon this invitation, science took a mighty 
     turn. Through the years at Gombe watching, Jane recorded 
     every deed, How they shared their

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     food and groomed with care--compassion was their creed,
       How they laughed and kissed and mourned their dead with 
     grief upon their face, How they held the mirror to us, 
     showing evolution's trace. But in nineteen-eighty-six she 
     flew far above this wood, And she saw the devastation where 
     the forest once had stood.
       She was no more mere observer, now she'd fight to save and 
     teach, And she traveled `round the planet, bringing hope 
     within her reach. On three hundred days of travel, every year 
     for decades long, Speaking, begging, preaching, pleading, 
     singing out her urgent song:
       ``Every person makes a difference, every action matters 
     true, And the future of our planet, of all life, depends on 
     you.'' On October first she left us, and she shed all mortal 
     cares. Ninety-one years of devotion, of a life of answered 
     prayers.
       Jane, who gave her life to nature, and gave voice to all 
     things wild, Has returned unto the earth now, still a 
     curious, loving child. So we weep for Jane this evening, 
     though we know she'd ask us: ``Why? I have lived the life I 
     dreamed of underneath the broadest sky.''
       As we mourn for you, dear Jane, your great legacy burns 
     bright, And the world's a kinder place because you brought us 
     to the light. For in every child who plants a tree, in every 
     soul who cares, In every word of hope and faith, we find you 
     standing there.
       Rest now in peace, dear Jane Goodall, in earth you loved 
     and knew, You showed us how to live with grace, with courage 
     strong and true. And when the wind sings through the Gombe 
     trees, chimps call at dawn, Remembering one who loved them--
     Though she's gone, her work lives on.

                          ____________________