[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 27]
[House]
[Page 35995]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                  HONORING THE LATE HON. JULIA CARSON

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Hill) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. HILL. Madam Speaker, I think it's a true testament to how people 
felt about Julia Carson based upon the fact that the hour has expired 
allotting time for her colleagues to get up here to say a few kind 
words about her and now we are in overtime and the hour is over and we 
still have colleagues on the House floor who want to take the time to 
eulogize our friend and colleague Julia Carson.
  I have known Julia for over 25 years. In this business of politics, 
you have friends and then you have allies. I can, with a great deal of 
assurance, tell my colleagues here that Julia was a friend, not just an 
ally. She was that, too. But I came from a small town in southern 
Indiana to the Indiana legislature back in 1982; and one of the first 
people I ever met was from the great city, the large city of 
Indianapolis, Indiana: Julia Carson. And I will be honest with you from 
the rural community and the kind of sheltered atmosphere of southern 
Indiana and small-town Indiana, I, quite frankly, didn't know how to 
take Julia Carson when I first met her. She was something else. But as 
the years went by and I had the time to serve with Julia both in the 
legislature and now here in Congress, I had come to love Julia Carson, 
a true friend. Not just a colleague, but a true friend.
  We have all heard the stories about how she was revered in 
Indianapolis, Indiana. The Indianapolis Star was the newspaper there, 
and there was some friction between Julia and the Indianapolis Star 
because the Indianapolis Star was basically a Republican-leaning 
newspaper. So there were moments between the Indianapolis Star and 
Julia. But just recently the headline in the Indianapolis Star, and it 
was a large headline, said: ``A Warrior for Indianapolis.'' And that's 
exactly what she was.
  She was one of a kind. She had grace and she had flair, and she had a 
great sense of humor. She was a Hoosier to the core. She was the 
epitome of everything that Indiana is. And we will miss her.
  I come to this microphone today with mixed emotions: sadness by the 
loss of Julia, but also a sense of good memories that we have about 
Julia Carson. The one thread that all of us have been speaking about 
and I will speak about it too was Julia was a champion, a champion for 
the downtrodden and the poor. She made no excuses that she was a 
liberal in the good sense of the word. She wanted to make life better 
for all Americans, not just a select few.
  Julia, we'll miss you.
  I do believe that when she walked into the pearly white gates, as 
Congressman Rush said, that the angels applauded.
  Well done, Julia. We love you and we miss you.

                          ____________________