[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 145 (1999), Part 5]
[House]
[Page 6297]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                  HEARTBROKEN FAREWELL TO JOYCE CHIANG

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from California (Mr. Berman) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. BERMAN. Mr. Speaker, I am truly heartbroken today to rise to say 
a final farewell to my friend and former staff member, Joyce Chiang.
  On January 9, Joyce vanished from her neighborhood. On April 1, she 
was found on the shore of the Potomac River in southern Fairfax County. 
Word yesterday of positive identification brought an end to the long 
vigil kept by her friends and family, and brought an end to the hope 
that we would see her bright smile once again.
  Joyce was born in Chicago, but she lived in California, and she was a 
California girl. Bright, beautiful, smart as a whip, she volunteered as 
an intern in my Los Angeles office when she was still a teenager.
  In 1990, while a student at Smith College, she spent January in my 
Washington office as an LBJ intern. At the end of the month, she had to 
rush back to Smith, because she was Senate Finance Committee Chair of 
the Smith College Student Government Association, and she had to plan 
for budget season. In her senior year, Joyce's fellow students elected 
her to be president of their student body.
  Last year, as my daughter was deciding where she might want to go to 
college, she sought Joyce's advice and, as a result, she is today a 
student at Joyce's alma mater, Smith College at Northhampton, 
Massachusetts.
  Joyce graduated from Smith in 1992 and showed up in my office looking 
for a day job so she could go to law school at night at Georgetown 
University. I was delighted to give her that job, knowing the benefit 
was more mine than hers.
  True to form, she was a wonderful friend and staffer. In the years 
from 1992 until 1995, she advanced in responsibility until she became 
my expert advisor on immigration law. That expertise led the INS to 
offer her a job as a special assistant to the Director of the Office of 
Congressional Relations.
  Upon her completion of law school, she transferred to the INS office 
of General Counsel where she was primarily responsible for coordinating 
and directing the myriad of activities required to implement the 1996 
Immigration Act.
  Joyce was not only hardworking, bright, and selfless, her personality 
was so engaging that she literally lit up any room she entered. She was 
both within and without a beautiful person. That I had the opportunity 
to know her and work with her will always be a memory of great joy to 
me.
  I cherished her friendship as I do that of her two brothers, Roger 
and John, and her mother, Judy. I know that they have found some 
consolation in learning just how many people loved their daughter and 
sister. Hundreds of her friends from Smith College, from Capitol Hill, 
from the INS, from Georgetown Law School, and from her community and 
neighborhoods came together to search for her, to stand vigil in both 
Washington and Los Angeles, and to pray for her and her family.
  I send to Roger, John and Mrs. Chiang my deepest sympathy and love, 
and pray that they will find comfort in knowing the full extent to 
which Joyce's life fit the words of the Prophet Micah: ``What doth the 
Lord require of thee, but to do justice, to love mercy and to walk 
humbly with thy God?''

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