[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 146 (2000), Part 18]
[Senate]
[Page 26647]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



                               LISA TUITE

  Mr. BYRD. Mr. President, once in a while an individual comes along 
who shines with such a special light that it illuminates the darkness 
for others. I have been fortunate to employ one such individual on my 
staff for the last 8 years: Lisa Tuite. Lisa achieved her master of 
arts degree in national security studies from Georgetown University in 
1990 and her bachelor of arts degree in foreign affairs from the 
University of Virginia. She came to my office as a legislative fellow 
from the National Photographic Interpretation Center. I soon recognized 
her talent. Lisa was employed in my office to serve as a legislative 
assistant for defense and foreign affairs and to assist me on the Armed 
Services Committee. She has done all of these things and done them 
well. Eventually she rose through the ranks to become my administrative 
assistant.
  Multitalented, thoughtful, with an encyclopedic grasp of detail, Lisa 
Tuite has been an inspiration to my staff and she has been an 
inspiration to me.
  I have been here on Jenkins Hill for 48 years, longer than anybody 
else who is in the Congress today in either body. John Dingell is the 
dean of the House of Representatives. I served with John Dingell's 
father in the House. I speak of John Dingell in a very admiring 
fashion. He is a man of tremendous talent, a fine, fine Member of the 
House. But I have been around quite a while, and I have seen a lot of 
people come and go in the Chamber here, as well in my employment, as 
one can imagine--48 years, starting out in the House of Representatives 
with five persons on my staff a long time ago.
  I have seen Senators come and go. I have seen our staffs at the front 
desk come and go. But this particular individual, of whom I speak 
today, merits my highest compliments. I have rarely employed anyone 
with her patience, her writing ability, her organizational instincts or 
her boundless energy. She is that rare breed of Senate staffer, 
seemingly born for the job and eager to do it. Moreover, as anyone who 
knows Lisa can attest, she is resolute, unflappable, and unfailingly 
cheerful. I have seldom seen her discouraged, and there is literally no 
task that she will not assume with relish, and always unfailing in her 
courtesy. I shall miss her.
  She has the soul of a gardener. It is a hobby at which she excels. 
She is a cultivator of beauty and a nurturer of growth. I am speaking 
not only with respect to plants and flowers and, yes, crops; but I am 
speaking also with reference to other individuals. For my other 
employees, she has been an inspiration as well. The young staffers whom 
she has so carefully tended and so artfully encouraged have blossomed, 
blossomed like the daffodils, blossomed under Lisa's tutelage. She has 
graciously focused her sunshine upon them all, upon all who work with 
her.
  Alas, as all good things come to an end, at least all things that are 
mortal, Lisa will be leaving my staff to spend more time with her 
husband Jim, her mother and father, and her adorable daughter Rachel. 
And I am the loser. I am saddened to lose her, but I know that she will 
grace whatever she puts her heart and hand to in the future years as 
she has done in my office for the too brief time that she worked among 
us and with us and lent us her gracious smile and her scintillating 
personality, her wit, her good sense, her good judgment, her 
dedication, her loyalty.
  So to Lisa, my staff and I say:

       The hours are like a string of pearls,
       The days like diamonds rare,
       The moments are the threads of gold,
       That bind them for our wear,
       So may the years that come to you,
       Such health and good contain,
       That every moment, hour, and day,
       Be like a golden chain.

                          ____________________