[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 145 (1999), Part 13]
[Senate]
[Page 19170]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



                        TRIBUTE TO LELAND PERRY

 Mr. HATCH. Mr. President, this Friday, on the campus of 
Brigham Young University, in Provo, Utah, the family, friends, former 
associates and successors of Leland M. Perry will gather to honor his 
quiet but substantial contributions to the dynamic growth and greatness 
that characterizes BYU.
  Leland Perry, who marks his 98th birthday on August 23, and who still 
lives in Provo, was the director of the physical plant at BYU from 
April 1947 to July 1957, when he and his late wife, McNone Perry, set 
their vocations aside for several years to organize and preside over 
the West Spanish American Mission of the LDS Church.
  Afterward, Mr. Perry went on to head the physical plant at Ricks 
College in Idaho, which is also an institution in the system of higher 
education affiliated with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day 
Saints, during that college's explosive building program. From there, 
he was appointed director of all physical plants in the LDS Church's 
higher education system, except BYU, until he retired in the mid 1960s.
  Leland Perry directed BYU's physical plant during a time when the 
university was beginning an era of enormous growth; and, from the 
account I have heard, it is clear that he played an important role 
during that critical period.
  One especially noteworthy example typifies his vital contributions. 
In 1955, he learned about a new concept for heating widely spread, 
isolated buildings, in a more efficient and less costly way, using 
pressurized water, which was heated to levels much higher than the 
boiling point, and combined with a method of forced circulation. Until 
then, steam was commonly used in such settings, delivered through pipes 
from a central heating plant. Heat engineering was still a young 
science, so he took it upon himself to learn all he could about this 
new technique. He then advocated its use in modernizing the BYU 
physical plant.
  Leland Perry did such a good job in mastering the concept and then in 
explaining and advocating the system that his idea was accepted, and 
BYU because the first university in the United States to install and 
use it campus-wide. Since then, virtually all other campuses of any 
size have followed BYU's lead, savings untold millions of dollars for 
American colleges and universities--and for students--nationwide.
  At the dedication ceremony for the new system in 1957 former BYU 
President William F. Edwards said, ``Leland caught the vision of a new 
idea and had the courage to promote the idea.''
  The physical plant of any major facility or complex of buildings is 
easy to take for granted. We tend not to notice the pipes and the 
boilers and the controls unless they break down. But they are the 
structural bones and the circulatory system that make our buildings 
useful, comfortable, and practical.
  I might mention that I was a student at BYU during Leland's tenure as 
plant manager. I confess that I did not fully appreciate at the time 
that there was heat in the library, the classrooms and in the dorms 
because of Leland Perry.
  Leland Perry, like many Utahns, is truly a pioneer. With humility and 
dedication, he has made the vocation of caring for Utah's physical 
plant a calling. And, he led the way through the last half of this 
century and created the standards applied to his successors who will 
lead us into the next century.
  I want to join my fellow Utahns and fellow Cougars in commending 
Leland Perry for his years of service and in wishing him a happy 98th 
birthday.

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