[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 146 (2000), Part 12]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 17211]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



                        HONORING BASIL T. KNIGHT

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. SCOTT McINNIS

                              of colorado

                    in the house of representatives

                      Wednesday, September 6, 2000

  Mr. McINNIS. Mr. Speaker, it is with great sadness that I now honor 
an extraordinary human being and great American, Basil T. Knight. Mr. 
Knight was an educator that changed the lives of literally thousands of 
young men and women over his more than seven decades as an educator in 
western Colorado. As family, friends, former students and colleagues 
mourn this profound loss, I would like to honor this truly great 
American.
  Mr. Knight was an individual that reached out to help every human 
being that he came in contact with. As an educator, countless students 
in District 51 have been affected by this remarkable man and each are 
better off because of his service. Basil began his legendary 
educational career as a substitute teacher at Mount Lincoln School near 
Palisade, Colorado, in 1923. He went on to become Principal only a year 
later. In 1925, Basil became a math teacher at Grand Junction High 
School where he remained for over three decades. As remarkable as his 
teaching career was, his immense impact upon the community continued 
long after he left the classroom.
  Mr. Knight was elected County Supervisor of Schools in 1965, which 
placed him in charge of over 40 schools within the county. As 
supervisor, he continued to work to ensure that the children in his 
community would receive the best education possible. His commitment to 
education earned him not only the Educator of the Year award in 1974 
from the Colorado Education Association, but also the District 51 staff 
development center now bears his name. Employees and visitors alike are 
reminded of his unmatched commitment to education every time they set 
foot in the Basil T. Knight Center.
  Mr. Knight's passion for serving children extended well into his 
golden years. In fact, he played an instrumental role in the passage of 
a recent school bond initiative that helped improve a number of 
existing schools in the Grand Junction area and build two new ones. The 
passing of this bond was the answer to a wish he made on his 100th 
birthday. Beyond his brick and mortar contributions to School District 
51, Mr. Knight's legacy will also endure in his five A's philosophy 
(attendance, attitude, attention, achievement and ABC's), a philosophy 
still used by the district today.
  Former State Senator Tilman Bishop, in a recent article in the Grand 
Junction Daily Sentinel, helps to sum up the impact Basil had on his 
community: ``Many generations have and will benefit from Basil T. 
Knight, to say he was a unique person is an understatement. Thank you 
Basil for all you stood for and believed in.''
  Mr. Speaker and fellow colleagues, as you can see, this extraordinary 
human being truly deserves our gratitude and our thanks. It is 
individuals like Basil who are committed to bettering the lives of 
America's youth through both education and public service that make our 
great country what it is today. Basil T. Knight may be gone, but his 
proud and distinguished legacy will long endure.
  America is most assuredly a better place for having known Basil T. 
Knight.

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