[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 149 (2003), Part 13]
[Senate]
[Pages 17951-17952]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                      TRIBUTE TO LUCEILLE FLEMING

  Mr. DeWINE. Mr. President, I rise today to pay tribute to an 
extraordinary individual, a woman of great vision and passion who has 
dedicated her life to helping people in their time of need. Her name is 
Luceille Fleming, and she just retired this past Friday, ending her 
over 14-year tenure as the first and only Director of the Ohio 
Department of Alcohol and Drug Addiction Services.
  Luceille Fleming is an extremely intelligent, wonderfully caring 
woman who has given so much to the State of Ohio. To say that she will 
be missed is an understatement, because Luceille Fleming built this 
Ohio agency from the ground up and turned it into a nationally-
recognized statewide drug and alcohol treatment network. Simply put, 
Luceille Fleming has spent the last 14 years saving lives. She led the 
effort to create a system that has helped countless Ohioans to help 
themselves, to reclaim their lives from all-consuming addictions.
  While I have come to the Senate Floor today to speak about Director 
Fleming's contributions to my home State of Ohio, she actually came to 
Ohio from Pennsylvania. After graduating from Chatham College in 
Pittsburgh, Director Fleming began her career as a communications 
specialist for a CBS affiliate in Harrisburg, PA. She then went on to 
found and run her own company called Dunhill of Harrisburg. In these 
positions, she cultivated her skills as a great leader and a great 
motivator.
  In 1977, she became the executive director of the Alcoholism and 
Addiction Association of Pennsylvania. In this position, she 
established the first successful statewide collaboration in 
Pennsylvania between alcoholism treatment efforts and drug abuse 
treatment efforts. She brought the treatment groups together with the 
recognition that both alcoholism and drug abuse are addictions. Today, 
that connection between alcoholism and drug addiction seem so logical. 
It has become an accepted notion. But it was Luceille who was at the 
forefront of bringing these two groups together.
  From there, Luceille was appointed deputy secretary of Health for 
Drug and Alcohol Programs in Pennsylvania. She supervised the policy 
and implementation of the State's drug and alcohol treatment effort. 
This experience at the State government level gave Luceille insights 
into how an effective statewide alcohol and drug addiction services 
agency should be run.
  Fortunately, Luceille was willing to bring these insights to our 
State of Ohio. In 1989, Luceille was hired after an exhaustive search 
to develop a cabinet-level agency to manage a statewide substance-abuse 
treatment network. She was hired by then-Governor Dick Celeste. Prior 
to her arrival, Ohio had two different agencies overseeing drug and 
alcohol treatment programs. A panel recommended combining the two 
agencies. Luceille was tasked with the creation of that single agency. 
It was a huge job but one for which she was more than qualified. While 
she excelled

[[Page 17952]]

in her previous positions, as director of the Ohio Department of 
Alcohol and Drug Addiction Services, Luceille truly thrived. Under 
Director Fleming's leadership, the agency developed innovative 
programs, reaching out to many different communities. Director Fleming 
fostered programs for juveniles and children, including youth 
mentoring, Head Start, and underage drinking prevention. She also 
established and supervised programs that served women recovering from 
substance abuse, helping them to reunite with their children. What 
could be more important than that?
  During her 14-year tenure under three Ohio Governors, including the 
current occupant of the chair, one of Director Fleming's top priorities 
was the expansion of the drug courts program which helped reduce 
recidivism, encouraging the proper treatment of offenders with 
substance abuse programs. When Director Fleming started, there was only 
one drug court in the State of Ohio. Today, there are 55. That is 
thanks, certainly, to the current occupant of the chair, and it is also 
thanks to Director Luceille Fleming.
  I have had the pleasure of working with Luceille directly, both when 
I was serving as lieutenant governor and now as Senator. Her 
experience, her judgment have proven invaluable to me. I have sought 
her advice many times, both as lieutenant governor and now for the last 
9 years as Senator. I can tell Members of the Senate, many days I have 
picked up the phone and called Luceille to get her advice on a bill or 
program. She has always been very candid, very open, very helpful, and 
had very good insight.
  I am grateful for her advice and her expertise as we collaborated on 
the safe and drug-free schools bill and other bills. Luceille's 
insights and contributions added tremendously to that law and helped 
make it a truly effective piece of legislation.
  After Luceille's retirement was announced, I read several news 
stories about her career and her contributions to the State of Ohio. 
While reading, I was struck in particular by one quote from Paul 
Coleman, president of Maryhaven, a substance abuse treatment center in 
Ohio. He said Director Fleming has ``a passion that burns to help 
people.'' Paul Coleman's statement says it all. If I had to come up 
with one statement that sums up Luceille Fleming, it would be she truly 
has a passion that burns to help people and she has channeled this 
passion into a life of service and dedication to others.
  Luceille Fleming retired last week at the age of 79--yes, 79--to take 
a breather and enjoy some time off. Those who know Luceille know she 
probably won't take a lot of time off and she will plunge back into 
something. She has been working at the Department of Alcohol and Drug 
Addiction Services since she was 65 years old. Most people at that 
point in their life would have decided to take it easy, kick back, and 
maybe relax. But not Luceille. She instead decided to take a position 
in government to build a State agency from the ground up. Her energy 
and her drive are truly remarkable.
  I conclude my remarks with a quote from Luceille herself. Upon taking 
her position with the agency, somebody asked at her first press 
conference about her age. To this question she simply said: ``Well, you 
know, I think the hair thins, the hips thicken, but the mind 
sharpens.''
  I cannot speak to the first two parts of that statement, but I can 
tell you for certain that the last part is true in regard to Luceille. 
Luceille is sharp, she is bright, she is focused--more today than ever. 
She has helped so many people during her career, and the people of Ohio 
and the Nation are, indeed, grateful.
  Luceille, you will be missed at the agency. You will be missed in the 
State of Ohio. We are grateful for what you have done.
  The Presiding Officer and I had the opportunity to work with 
Luceille. It was my job as lieutenant governor to work with the current 
occupant of the chair, my colleague from the State of Ohio, in the drug 
addiction area, substance abuse area, when I was lieutenant governor 
and the current occupant of the chair was Governor. Dick Celeste, 
former Governor, picked Luceille to head up this new agency, to create 
this new agency. She had run it for a number of years and built it up. 
Then-Governor-elect Voinovich had taken over, and it was our job to 
decide whether Luceille was going to continue in that position. We 
looked all over the State of Ohio and across the country to determine 
who should occupy that position. After a long search, we decided--then-
Governor-elect Voinovich decided that Luceille Fleming, the person who 
was in that position, was the best person to continue.
  We were not disappointed. We had the opportunity to work with 
Luceille, to sit in Cabinet meetings with her. I had the chance to work 
with her many times on a detailed basis to talk about substance abuse 
problems, alcohol and addiction problems, wrestled with these problems, 
problems in the prisons, problems in our communities. She is just an 
amazing person, someone who truly understands the gravity of the 
problem, how it infests our communities, the damage it does to our 
young people. She was always optimistic, always believed we could do 
more, always said: Mike, if we could just move in this direction, if we 
could just move forward a little bit more, we could save some lives. We 
could turn some young people's lives around. We can make a difference. 
Let's try this. Let's try that. We can do better. To see someone now 79 
who still has that optimism, who still has that belief--we can do 
better, we can do more--is a wonderful thing to see.
  I salute Luceille Fleming for her 14 years of service to the State of 
Ohio, for her optimism, for her vision.
  Luceille, thank you for the work you have done. Those in Ohio who 
have worked with you are truly grateful for your service to the people 
of the State. We appreciate it very much. You are a true visionary. You 
are a dear person, someone who has contributed a great deal to our 
State and to the people we always serve.
  I yield the floor and suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. LEVIN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Smith). Without objection, it is so 
ordered.

                          ____________________