[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 151 (2005), Part 16]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 21376]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                         TRIBUTE TO GENE KREKEL

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. JAMES A. LEACH

                                of iowa

                    in the house of representatives

                      Tuesday, September 27, 2005

  Mr. LEACH. Mr. Speaker, a friend passed away this week.
  Who was Gene Krekel and why do we mourn his passing?
  The irony in America is there are a lot of lawyer jokes. Actually 
good lawyers are the most respected people in the community. Gene 
personifies the best in his profession--the professional who is careful 
in judgment and caring in concern. His career and his life were 
characterized by decency and a steadfast commitment to causes.
  Gene was a Republican, the Des Moines county Chairman and my campaign 
leader for many years, but Gene had as many Democratic as Republican 
friends. His commitment to his chosen party had little to do with 
partisanship and everything to do with selfless fair play.
  American divides between two political teams, each with a great 
heritage. The modern-day trend is to accentuate differences, appeal to 
lowest-common-denominator instincts, and resort to divisive strategies. 
Gene was an old-fashioned political loyalist who was appalled by such 
tactics. He believed in principles and values, friendship rather than 
grudges.
  It may have been courtroom training, which while advocacy-oriented, 
recognized that all sides generally have some justice to their case; it 
may have been his understanding that there will always be another 
battle to follow that caused him to eschew the negative. But his 
approach to work and life were rooted in a deeper instinct as well. 
Gene was born on a Des Moines County farm and always maintained a rural 
reserve in a city profession. While temptations to glibness and 
cynicism abound in our society, Gene was imbued with a genteel Iowa 
optimism that evoked trust in all with whom he dealt.
  It is this trust that caused everyone associated with good causes to 
seek his leadership. From politics to his church, from bar associations 
to 4-H, Gene could be counted on for the thoughtful mettle that had 
earned him Phi Beta Kappa honors in college and order of the coif in 
law school.
  But of all his activities, the one Gene enjoyed the most was the Des 
Moines county fair, which for many years he chaired. Gene loved, above 
all, the youth education projects: the showing of cattle and hogs, 
chickens and sheep, rabbits and gerbels. It was the tie of generations 
and the nature and history of Iowa's agricultural enterprise that 
appealed so deeply to him.
  None of us can imagine Gene's disappointment not to meet in this life 
his first grandchild due in just a few weeks. This tragedy is more 
poignant because Gene and Debbie suffered together one of the gravest 
of life's tragedies, the death of their son Eric in a car accident 
eight years ago.
  In their close-knit family, nothing could have been sadder that the 
passing of this freckle faced boy who developed a genius for happiness 
and friendship.
  Now Debbie and Molly are left alone, struck by the loss of the anchor 
of the family. Their grief is ours also.
  This big man with a big hand and bigger heart will be much missed by 
all who had the good fortune to be touched by his gentleness.

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