[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 151 (2005), Part 11]
[Senate]
[Pages 15869-15870]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                    MR. GENE MAY, A BUILDER OF HOMES

  Mr. BYRD. Mr. President, it is commonly said that a man is known by 
his work. For half of a century, Mr. Gene May of McLean, VA, was known 
by the fine homes he built in the Washington area.
  Mr. May, who died recently of lung cancer, was a builder and a 
developer, who made an important and lasting impact on this busy, ever-
growing, and highly transient region. He was a good man, who touched 
people with his hard work, his dedication to his profession, and the 
extra care that he put into the structures that he built.
  Gene May did not merely build houses; he built homes, and he built 
more than a thousand of them starting with his first, in 1947. He put a 
part of himself into each of his endeavors, into each of the homes he 
built; and as a result, the homes he built reflect his values. Years 
after he retired, according to the Washington Post, people were still 
writing to him, praising him for the sturdiness of the homes he had 
built for them, and thanking him for his superb work.
  Yet, according to his daughter, his work was not the most important 
thing in his life. It wasn't even second. His daughter explained that 
``the most important thing in his life was his family, followed by his 
church. And he viewed his work as a way to serve both.''

[[Page 15870]]

  What a wonderful way to regard one's work. What a contribution all of 
us could make to our families, our society, and ourselves with such an 
outlook on life, that our work is a way to serve our family and our 
Creator.
  Gene May's philosophy served as an underpinning for a rewarding life. 
He put family first, and what a wonderful family he had. He was married 
to his loving wife, Barbara May, for 58 years. They had two children 
and five grandchildren.
  Gene May faithfully served his church. I knew Gene May. He built the 
house in which I now live. He was a charter member, treasurer, and one 
of the first deacons of the Church of Christ of Falls church. He 
supervised the building of two of the church's facilities, and actively 
participated in the church's mission. In addition, he helped to 
establish, then served as president of, a christian youth summer camp 
in Virginia's blue ridge mountains.
  Gene May's community involvement extended well beyond his church 
activities. For example, he was a member of the school board, a board 
member of the Arlington Trust Bank, and a founder of the Northeastern 
Junior College in Villanova, PA.
  When Mr. May learned that he had terminal cancer a little more than a 
year ago, he reacted to the news with the calmness and level-headedness 
that had characterized his life.
  He taught his wife how to handle the family finances, even budgeting 
the money for his funeral expenses. He then signed up for hospice care, 
so that he would not be a burden to his family; and, he began to 
prepare himself for the afterlife. How about that? He began to prepare 
himself for the afterlife. Gene May succumbed to the dreaded disease on 
May 4 of this year.
  This good man, this good neighbor, this good citizen will be missed 
by his family, his community, and his legion of friends. But through 
the homes he built for more than a thousand people, the memories of his 
life and work will live for years and years to come. He was a builder.
  Gene May was a builder in the best and truest meaning of the word.

     I saw them tearing a building down,
     A group of men in a busy town.

     With a ``ho, heave, ho'' and a lusty yell
     They swung a beam and the sidewall fell.

     I said to the foreman, ``Are these men skilled?
     The type you would hire if you had to build?''

     He laughed, and then he said, ``no indeed,
     Just common labor is all I need;
     I can easily wreck in a day or two,
     That which takes builders years to do.

     I said to myself as I walked away,
     ``Which of these roles am I trying to play?
     Am I a builder who works with care,
     Building my life by the rule and square?
     Am I shaping my deeds by a well-laid plan,
     Patiently building the best I can?
     Or am I a fellow who walks the town,
     Content with the labor of tearing down?''

  My wife Erma, and I extend our deepest condolences to Mr. May's wife, 
Barbara, and their children, and grandchildren.
  May his ashes rest in peace.

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