[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 154 (2008), Part 18]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 24703]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                 HONORING THE MEMORY OF LAMBERT C. MIMS

                                 ______
                                 

                             HON. JO BONNER

                               of alabama

                    in the house of representatives

                      Wednesday, December 10, 2008

  Mr. BONNER. Madam Speaker, the city of Mobile and the state of 
Alabama recently lost a dear friend, and I rise today to honor former 
Mayor Lambert C. Mims and pay tribute to his memory.
  With a public career spanning two decades, Mayor Mims's tenure in 
office marked a period of significant growth for the city of Mobile, 
including the completion of the George C. Wallace tunnels and the 
Interstate 10 Bayway, the opening of the restored Fort Conde, the 
Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway, and the first oil well in Mobile Bay.
  Born in the small farming town of Uriah in south Monroe County, Mayor 
Mims grew up on a cotton farm and was no stranger to hard work. He 
moved to Mobile at the age of 19 and had called the city home ever 
since. In 1965, he was elected to the Mobile City Commission, becoming 
the youngest commissioner in Mobile's history. When first elected, he 
served as Public Works Commissioner. The commission rotated the title 
of mayor every 16 months and, during his tenure as mayor and 
commissioner, he made public morality the foundation of his 
administration, including the passage of an anti-pornography 
regulation.
  After leaving office, then-Governor George C. Wallace appointed Mayor 
Mims as ambassador to the Alabama Waterways Development Agency. He 
later served as president of the American Public Works Association and 
the Alabama League of Municipalities.
  A long-time member and deacon at Riverside Baptist Church, Mayor Mims 
served as president of the Alabama Baptist Brotherhood, the Alabama 
Baptist State Convention, the Mobile Baptist Association, and the 
Masonic Breakfast Club. He was a member of the Azalea Masonic Lodge 
#898 F & AM, the Abba Temple Shrine, West Mobile Kiwanis Club, the CBMC 
and served as president of the Waterfront Rescue Mission Advisory 
Board.
  Madam Speaker, I ask my colleagues to join me in remembering a 
dedicated community leader and friend to many throughout south Alabama. 
Lambert C. Mims will be dearly missed by his family--his wife, Reecie; 
his sons, Dale P. Mims and L. Daniel Mims; his grandchildren, Lindsay 
C. Mims and Katie E. Mims; and his brother, Bibb Graves Mims--as well 
as the countless friends he leaves behind.
  Our thoughts and prayers are with them all during this difficult 
time.

                          ____________________