[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 148 (2002), Part 14]
[Senate]
[Pages 19021-19022]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




  WELCOME AND HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO REVEREND CECIL PERRY OF WEST VIRGINIA

  Mr. BYRD. Mr. President, this morning's inspirational invocation was 
delivered by the Rev. Cecil Perry from Oak Hill, WV. I am pleased and 
proud to announce today, October 3, is the Reverend Mr. Perry's 85th 
birthday.
  I am also pleased and proud to point out that more than 50 years 
ago--as a matter of fact, it was more than 60 years ago--Mr. Perry and 
I worked together as meat cutters in the New River Company Store near 
Beckley, WV. Our careers took us on different paths. Mine became a 
career in public service. Mr. Perry became a coal miner. That is a very 
honorable title, a ``coal miner.'' The man who raised me was a coal 
miner. My wife's father was a coal miner. My wife's brother-in-law died 
of silicosis pneumoconiosis, which he contracted through working in the 
coal mines. His father was killed by a slate fall in a coal mine. So 
the coal miners have a great heritage of which they can be proud.
  After attending the Appalachian Bible Institute, the Reverend Mr. 
Perry was ordained in 1957 as a Baptist minister. For the next 40 
years, he preached the word of God throughout southern West Virginia.
  The Senate chaplain's office, at my request, invited Mr. Perry to 
come to the Nation's Capital and deliver the Senate prayer for us 
today. I am pleased the Reverend Mr. Perry brought with him his 
wonderful family, including his son David Perry, who is a delegate in 
the West Virginia State legislature, and also his daughter Nancy James. 
Accompanying them are Cecil Perry's 4 grandchildren and 12 great 
grandchildren. I am glad the family has come to Washington and is 
visiting the U.S. Capitol. I trust they will return to the hills of our 
beloved West Virginia rewarded and informed by their visit here.
  The Scriptures say: ``Let the elders that rule well be counted worthy 
of double honor, especially they who labor in the word and doctrine''--
1 Timothy 5:17.
  The Reverend Mr. Perry has ``ruled well.'' He has ``labor[ed] in the 
word and doctrine.'' He is ``worthy of double honor.''
  I am delighted, as a Senator from West Virginia, in having this good 
man visit the Senate today, and I thank him for helping us to begin our 
day with his eloquent and uplifting words which were not written but 
came from the heart. Happy Birthday, Mr. Perry.

     Last night, I passed beside the blacksmith's door

[[Page 19022]]

     And heard the anvil ring the vesper chime
     And looking in I saw upon the floor
     Old hammers, worn with beating years of time

     ``How many anvils have you had'', said I
     ``To wear and batter all these hammers so?''
     ``Only one,'' the blacksmith said, with twinkling eye.
     ``The anvil wears the hammers out, you know.''

     And so, the Bible, anvil of God's Word
     For centuries, skeptic blows have beat upon
     And though the noise of falling blows was heard,
     The anvil is unharmed--the hammers, gone.

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