[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 147 (2001), Part 3] [Extensions of Remarks] [Pages 4425-4426] [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]IN MEMORY OF CHARLES J. TRAYLOR ______ HON. MARK UDALL of colorado in the house of representatives Thursday, March 22, 2001 Mr. UDALL of Colorado. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the memory of Charles Traylor, a longtime leader of our state and a man whose compassion for others was as big and open as Colorado's sky. ``Charlie'', as he was known by most, was an excellent writer whose wit often graced the editorial pages of the Grand Junction Daily Sentinel. He was a strong spokesman for improving public education and a champion of opportunity for the less advantaged in our society. As a highly respected lawyer, Charlie understood the power of education in elevating a person's life. He worked hard to carry this message into the lives of others. Often, you could find him at school district meetings or working to improve Mesa State College. Charlie was known throughout Colorado as a ``damn good lawyer.'' Over the years, he was ready to take on the hard fights for people who didn't have a lot of money--and he often won. He won admiration for his selfless commitment to helping Coloradans who needed a hand up. He will be missed. A recent article in the Daily Sentinel illustrates Charlie's accomplishments and character, which left a lasting impression on Colorado. For the benefit of our colleagues, I am attaching a copy of that column, for inclusion in the Record. [From the Daily Sentinel, February 6, 2001] Legendary GJ Lawyer Traylor Dies at Age 85 (By Gary Harmon) Grand Junction, CO--To have known Charlie Traylor was to have generated a story, one that would always have a point in the telling. Today, though, someone else at the Aspinall Foundation will have to tell Mr. Traylor's tales as a committee interviews scholarship candidates. Members of the Mesa County Bar Association won't have the opportunity to hear Mr. Traylor spin out his recollections of the law practice in the mid- 20th century and what they mean in the new millennium. Mr. Traylor--advocate, political adviser, sage and raconteur--died Sunday. He was 85. There are to be no services. But there are recollections aplenty. The Aspinall Foundation Scholarship Committee, which is unusual in conducting personal interviews with applicants-- who must aspire to public service--will meet despite the death of the man that banker Pat Gormley described as the ``patron saint'' of the foundation founded in 1968. ``We're going to go ahead and hold it because that's what we think he would have wanted,'' Gormley said. What Mr. Traylor wanted, he rarely left to doubt. A lifelong Democrat, Mr. Traylor once was tempted to switch party registration for the limited purpose of voting to oust a certain Republican officeholder, then switch back a day later, recalled Jim Robb, a Grand Junction lawyer, federal magistrate, and occasional political foe as a Republican and a consistent admirer of Mr. Traylor. His response to that suggestion after a day of thinking about it, Robb said, was this: ``He walked into work from his house and if someone were to hit him on that day, he would show up at the Pearly Gates and would have to answer that he was registered as a Republican and he wouldn't have gotten in. ``So he decided not to do that.'' Mr. Traylor, though, was more than a political partisan, even if his home was known to Bobby and Teddy Kennedy during the 1960 election campaign, Robb said. Mr. Traylor greeted John Kennedy on a visit to Grand Junction. ``I think I would describe him as a legendary lawyer in western Colorado,'' Robb said. ``Our religions were different, our politics were different. We had so many differences and yet I felt very, very close to Charlie Traylor. I think he brought out friendship in anyone he met.'' U.S. Rep. Scott McInnis, R-Colo., said that Mr. Traylor ``gave immeasurably to his community, state and nation. Western Colorado is undoubtedly a better place because of Charlie's life of service. He will be greatly missed, but not soon forgotten.'' Mr. Traylor knew how to work as an outsider from an early age, said Tom Harshman, a former law partner. Mr. Traylor, a Roman Catholic, was elected student body president at Ole Miss in strong, Baptist country when religion was an issue. ``He used to say Catholics in Mississippi were as welcome as dogs in a cathedral,'' Harshman said. ``He was quite a phenomenon.'' He frequently joked that he graduated from college with more money than he had to begin with because he started a business delivering sandwiches to the dorms, Harshman said. Mr. Traylor knew how to get what he wanted, Gormley said, remembering the time he was recruited to be treasurer for the campaigns of U.S. Rep. Wayne N. Aspinall, the Palisade lawyer who chaired the House Interior Committee. Mr. Traylor was Aspinall's longtime campaign manager. Mr. Traylor didn't approach Gormley directly. ``He asked my father and my father told me that's a good job.'' A gift of being able to condense issues into a few words, Gormley said, made Mr. Traylor a strong trial attorney. When Mr. Traylor moved to Grand Junction in 1946, he took on the duties of bailing out the prostitutes who were hired by madams who kept his firm on retainer. When Harshman joined the firm in 1965, his job was to assist Mr. Traylor at trial and that first year was a doozy: five murder trials. Mr. Traylor got four of his defendants off and one guilty on a lesser charge. ``He was an excellent lawyer,'' said Terry Farina, a former Mesa County district attorney. ``He was shrewd and he had the common touch.'' He didn't try only murder cases. Mr. Traylor was one of the first attorneys to recover damages for widows whose husbands had died of radiation-related diseases contracted in the uranium mines that dotted the Southwest. In the meantime, Mr. Traylor and his wife, Helen, raised seven children and he was active in trial lawyers groups. ``He was always trying to stretch the paradigm,'' said another former law partner, Dick Arnold. ``I don't think he realized he had this knack for being creative.'' Mr. Traylor retired from his law firm, Traylor, Tompkins, Black and Gaty, on Jan. 12, his 85th birthday. Four days later he suffered a stroke and was set to begin a rehabilitation regimen. [[Page 4426]] ``I was thinking positive,'' said Bill Cleary, a Traylor friend from 1961. ``He told me it was pretty tough, this rehab. I was looking forward to his regaining a certain mobility.'' Mr. Traylor, in fact, was to have been on the county bar association program on Jan. 22 to recall the old days, Farina said. Mr. Traylor, though, never completely retired. ``He was so robust,'' Farina said. ``I recently gave him a book about a lawyer-turned-journalist who goes back to Natchez and I thought Charlie would like it. ``After two weeks, he and Helen both had read it and liked it and he returned it to me with a critique of the fictionalized trial. He just had that kind of mind.'' Even to the end, Mr. Traylor kept a few surprises. It wasn't until Robb visited him in his office as Mr. Traylor was moving out that Robb realized he and Mr. Traylor were fraternity brothers. And Mr. Traylor, effusive as he was, rarely discussed his experiences in World War 11, said Harshman. As commander of a heavy-weapons company, he earned a Bronze Star and liberated Gunkirchen, a camp holding Jewish and Polish prisoners. Mr. Traylor's public passion, though, was education. He frequently attended meetings of the School District 51 board and pressed for several programs, including MESA, which promoted math and science for minorities and women, and a committee promoting partnership between District 51 and Mesa State College. ``Charlie Traylor was one of a kind,'' said Marilyn Conner, assistant superintendent and a Traylor acquaintance for 15 years. ``I believe he was as intelligent and as insightful and as gentlemanly a person as you would run across.'' Mr. Traylor also was a supporter of Mesa State, regularly attending plays at the college, Robb recalled. ``We're going to take a walk along the river and think about him,'' Robb said of his wife, Maggie, who directed many of those plays. ``This is going to take some getting used to,'' Cleary said. ``He was bigger than life and that always leaves a vacancy. He was a man of stature. He could be admired by a great many people.'' ____________________