[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 146 (2000), Part 16]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 23394]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



                       J.T. WEEKER SERVICE CENTER

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                           HON. HENRY J. HYDE

                              of illinois

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, October 17, 2000

  Mr. HYDE. Madam Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 5016, which 
designates the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 
514 Express Center Drive in Chicago, Illinois, as the J.T. Weeker 
Service Center. It is with great pride that we in the Illinois 
Congressional Delegation honor a man for whom our entire Nation is 
eternally grateful.
  John Thomas (J.T.) Weeker was born in New York, New York in 1947. He 
graduated from Cornell University in 1969 and completed Executive 
Management Programs at Harvard, Pennsylvania State, and Duke 
Universities.
  Mr. Weeker began his career with the Postal Service in 1972 in Akron, 
Ohio, as District Director, Employee Relations and served in a variety 
of management positions for the Postal Service throughout the United 
States. In 1988 he was appointed General Manager/Postmaster of the 
Albany, NY Field Division, and served in that capacity until 1993, when 
he was appointed District Manager for the Albany District.
  When Mr. Weeker was appointed to direct operations of the U.S. Postal 
Service's Great Lakes Area in 1995, mail service in the area had been 
lambasted by public and postal officials the year before. Joining a 
rehabilitation effort already in progress, Mr. Weeker, known for 
fostering optimism in his coworkers, stressed employee development and 
built a professional relationship with the region's largest postal 
customers. He brought tremendous energy to this effort, despite his own 
fragile health. In 1977, he received a kidney and pancreas transplant 
to replace organs damaged by a lifelong struggle with diabetes.
  As Vice President of Operations of the Great Lakes Area, Mr. Weeker 
was responsible for mail processing and distribution, customer service 
and sales operations in a territory covering most of Illinois, Indiana, 
and Michigan, serving 25 million customers and staffed by more than 
80,000 employees in 32 plants and 2,140 post offices.
  Noted for his innovative leadership and team building activities, Mr. 
Weeker implemented the first extensive Quality Process in the Postal 
Service and was a founding member of the first national Management by 
Participation committee. During the four years he directed operations, 
Mr. Weeker changed operational structures in the office, as well as the 
way the region examined its performance. As a result, mail delivery 
times in the Great Lakes Area, and especially in Chicago, improved 
considerably. In FY 1998, the overnight committed first-class mail 
arrived on time in the Great Lakes Area 93.4 percent, and 93.5 percent 
in Chicago and further improvements were seen in FY 1999 and FY 2000.
  Mr. Weeker died on January 6, 2000 at the University of Wisconsin 
Hospital in Madison, Wisconsin. He is survived by his wife, Julia (from 
Wheaton, Illinois), his parents Samuel and Maxine, his sister Wendy 
Vaccaro, and his brothers, Brett and Scott.
  Madam Speaker, I urge the adoption of H.R. 5016. I thank the 
gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Blagojevich) for recognizing this great 
man from Illinois.

                          ____________________