[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 156 (2010), Part 13]
[House]
[Page 18559]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                    HONORING CONGRESSMAN IKE SKELTON

  (Mr. HOYER asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute.)
  Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, Ike Skelton is my brother. He and I are both 
Sigma Chi's. There's a lot of misinformation and misapprehension about 
fraternities and sororities. Sigma Chi was founded by seven 
individuals, one of whom was a gentleman named Jordan, and the Jordan 
standard requires of those who pledge that fraternity to live by 
certain standards. Those standards are what we would expect of all of 
us and hope for all of us.
  I have been a member of that fraternity for over half a century. No 
Sigma Chi that I have met has been more faithful to meeting the 
standards of conduct and character and courage and fidelity to purpose 
than my brother Ike Skelton.
  Ike Skelton is the father of a Sigma Chi and the son of a Sigma Chi 
and the grandfather of a Sigma Chi. Is that correct, Ike? I think I 
have it in order. But Ike Skelton has been a colleague in this 
Congress. Ike Skelton, as Mrs. Emerson said and as Speaker Pelosi said, 
and as others will say, is the quintessential example of what the 
American public would hope all of us would be. He's thoughtful, a great 
intellect, faithful, patriotic, and he teared, of course, as he 
mentioned the troops, the men and women who serve this country in 
uniform, the men and women who have had no greater advocate than Ike 
Skelton of Missouri, the men and women of our Armed Forces who have had 
no greater advocate in terms of not only the quality of their lives, 
their housing, their health care, their benefits, but also the 
assurance that they had the best technology that was available to make 
them not only as effective but, as importantly, as secure and safe as 
they could possibly be.
  Ike Skelton is a good and decent man who has served his country 
extraordinarily well. He quoted the Tennyson poem, ``Ulysses.'' What a 
wonderful poem. He didn't quote the end of it, which is essentially 
that Ulysses, then old, Telemachus, the king, left to his son the 
duties of being king and brought his band of brothers together to go 
forth to strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.
  There is no doubt in my mind, Mr. Speaker, that Ike Skelton will 
continue to be an extraordinarily faithful citizen of this country, an 
unswerving supporter of those in uniform, of our Armed Forces, and of 
our national security, and one who will uphold the highest standards 
that this institution would hope all of its Members maintain, and he 
will continue to strive to seek to find and we know he will not yield. 
But in not yielding on principle, he will be faithfully courteous and 
respectful of others, as he has been every day on this floor, in his 
committee, and in the hallways of our offices.
  His late wife was named Susan. My oldest daughter is named Susan. 
Susan Skelton, in the spring of 1981, came to Bowie, Maryland, and 
knocked on doors, and the doors opened and she said, I would like you 
to vote for Steny Hoyer for Congress. I loved Susan. We lost Susan a 
few years ago. She was like her husband--a beautiful, beautiful person.
  It is a sad day that Ike Skelton leaves this Chamber. It will not be 
today but in a few weeks, but it is a wonderful day for all of us to 
count ourselves blessed by being part of the life of this 
extraordinary, good, and decent man, Ike Skelton of Missouri. Ike 
Skelton, patriot. Ike Skelton, a wonderful, great American.
  Thank you, Ike Skelton.

                          ____________________