[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 154 (2008), Part 5]
[Senate]
[Page 6490]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                        TRIBUTE TO PHIL BLADINE

 Mr. SMITH. Mr. President. ``To live fully,'' wrote Oliver 
Wendell Holmes, ``is to be engaged in the passions of one's time.'' I 
rise today to pay tribute to Phil Bladine, a remarkable Oregonian, who 
passed away last week at the age of 89. There can be no doubt that Phil 
Bladine lived a very full life, as he devoted much of it to making a 
positive difference in the issues of his time.
  A native of Iowa, Phil first arrived in McMinnville, OR, as a 14-
year-old, when his father purchased a community newspaper. After 
graduating from high school and college, Phil did as did so many others 
of the ``Greatest Generation''--he wore the uniform of our country. 
Phil joined the Navy in 1940, and eventually would become an Executive 
Officer of an LST, a 228-foot ship that carried U.S. Marines and 
landing crafts in the Pacific Theater.
  After the war, Phil would return to McMinnville, where he would spend 
much of the next half century at the helm of the McMinnville News-
Register. Under his commonsense leadership, the News-Register became a 
positive and respected force for progress in Yamhill County and all of 
Oregon.
  Phil was a natural leader who lent his time and talent to countless 
organizations and worthy causes, including the Oregon Newspaper 
Publishers Association, the Republican Party, St. Barnabas Episcopal 
Church, the McMinnville Chamber of Commerce, Associated Oregon 
Industries, and the Oregon Economic Development Commission. I am just 
one of many elected officials who, over the years, counted on Phil for 
advise and counsel. I always knew that instead of telling me what I 
wanted to hear, he would tell me what I needed to hear.
  Mr. President, I extend my condolences to Phil's wife Margaret 
``Meg'' Bladine; his daughter Pam; his son Jeb; and all the members of 
the Bladine family. May they find solace in the words of the Greek 
poet, Sophocles, who wrote, ``One must wait until the evening to see 
how splendid the day has been.'' I am confident that in the evening of 
his time on earth, Phil Bladine could look back at a life filled with 
family and friends, a life filled with making a difference for his 
country, his state, and his community, and he could say, ``The day has 
indeed been splendid.''

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