[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 149 (2003), Part 11]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 15362]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                          TRIBUTE TO ALAN BRAY

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. ROBERT E. ANDREWS

                             of new jersey

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, June 18, 2003

  Mr. ANDREWS. Mr. Speaker, I rise to recognize Alan Bray.
  Alan Bray is well known throughout Maine as a talented artist who is 
able to capture the beauty of Maine in his paintings. Alan's art has 
been enjoyed by so many who appreciate his amazing works. He has 
studied art around the world and earned his degree in Italy. He has had 
his artwork displayed at museums in New York City and reviewed in some 
of the finest publications. He has been to the great bay of San 
Francisco and to the shores of Florida, yet Alan always chooses to 
return to that place from which he came.
  Perhaps Alan Bray's greatest works, however, lie not within his art 
but within his soul. You see, Alan comes from Sangerville, a small town 
in central Maine where the people do not always enjoy many of the 
everyday advantages as those of us who have the opportunity to live in 
more populous and prosperous areas. Closing mills, unemployment and 
lower wages place a strain on families and communities, but Alan Bray 
is a community's strength.
  Alan has given his time and his talents to the local college, where 
he passes on his vast knowledge of art and artistic methods to students 
eager to absorb it, but who would otherwise be without the opportunity 
to learn from such life experiences. He has led the effort to revive 
the local Grange, once a meeting place for farmers in the surrounding 
communities to discuss means to deliver their crops to the cities and 
ensure their earning a fair wage for their long, hard hours of work. 
Today, the Sangerville Grange is a center of culture and draws musical 
talent, poets, speakers and others with so much to offer and to teach, 
much as the town of Collingswood in my district has the Scottish Rite. 
Like the Rite, the Grange has become widely known for drawing some of 
the finest talent and sharpest minds to deliver music, art and culture 
to the small community of good, decent people who so deserve the 
wonderful offerings a civilized society has to give. It is a result of 
the vision, character and hard work of Alan Bray.
  Alan is now being recognized as a recipient of the Jefferson Award, a 
prestigious award that honors community service and cooperative spirit, 
and he is here in Washington today to humbly accept that award for his 
good works, his good deeds, but mainly, for the good his good deeds, 
but mainly for the good content of his character. Alan Bray embodies 
the spirit of returning to one's community a hundred fold that which 
you have gained from it, and of unpaid public service that is an 
essential part of the spirit of America. He is a ray of hope to some 
who are in need of hope; a beacon of light to others who struggle to 
find their way, and a modern visionary of what otherwise ordinary 
people can do to make extraordinary things come to be. Congratulations, 
Alan. Your community, your state, and indeed your nation, thank you.

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