[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 149 (2003), Part 17]
[House]
[Pages 23981-23982]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




  HONORING SHERYTHIA SCAIFE, RALPH DUKE, AND JOHNSON'S CHAPEL UNITED 
                            METHODIST CHURCH

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentlewoman from Tennessee (Mrs. Blackburn) is recognized for 5 
minutes.
  Mrs. BLACKBURN. Madam Speaker, in every one of our lives there are 
people and places that are really unique, and they are so special that 
they become an essential part of who we are and who our communities are 
and what they become over time.
  Today, I want to recognize two people and one place that have not 
only helped shape who I am, but they have touched the lives of our 
entire community and thousands of people. Quite simply, they represent 
what is the very best about Tennessee.
  This month Sherythia Scaife, a member of the board of directors for 
historic Belmont Mansion in Nashville, will receive the Helen Kennedy 
Award for volunteer service. The Belmont Mansion is truly one of those 
historical treasures in Tennessee; and Sherythia, the best way to sum 
it up is she is simply one of our treasures, such a wonderful woman.
  As everyone involved in charity work can tell us, fund-raising is a 
tough job; but Sherythia committed her energies to preserving the 
Belmont Mansion, and she has helped lead the effort to raise funds for 
the Belmont Mansion. We are lucky to have this wonderful part of the 
past with us still, and we are even luckier to have someone like 
Sherythia Scaife here to help protect Belmont Mansion for the future.
  In the city of Franklin, Tennessee, where I have one of my district 
offices, there was a man whom everyone knew. He was our friend, a 
leader, a small business owner. He was truly a pillar of the community. 
Ralph Duke started out as a grocery bag boy, and he ended up as our 
town's main street pharmacist and civic leader.
  We lost Ralph just a few days ago; and in thinking about what he 
meant to all of us, I was amazed at just how much he had accomplished 
in his lifetime. He filled close to 1 million prescriptions over the 
years to keep us

[[Page 23982]]

healthy. He served us as an alderman and worked to improve police and 
fire service to help keep us all safe; and Ralph, above all else, took 
the time to say hello and to care about people, making us all feel that 
part of the community was important.
  Ralph will be missed, but he is with us in our memories, and his 
family is with us in our thoughts and prayers.
  A church is not just a building. It is also a source of strength and 
solace for a community of people. It is a place to offer our thanks to 
the Lord and Johnson's Chapel United Methodist Church in Brentwood, 
Tennessee, will be celebrating its 200th birthday on October 4, 2003. 
While the church structure has been destroyed by fire and renovated by 
man over those 200 years, the place has been one of God for all this 
time. It is a wonderful thing to think of the comfort and love that is 
so strong and true in this single location, a place that brings people 
together to worship our Lord, to honor our families, to celebrate some 
of life's most special occasions, like my niece's wedding, and sends 
them out into the world renewed, energized and excited about the word 
of God.
  Madam Speaker, I imagine that all of my colleagues have stories like 
these of the wonderful places that exist in each of our districts, the 
things that make America and our communities so unique, a Nation where 
people like Sherythia Scaife and Ralph Duke can give of their time to 
others and a place where we can freely assemble in places of worship, 
such as Johnson's Chapel United Methodist Church.

                          ____________________