[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 156 (2010), Part 13]
[House]
[Page 18560]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                    HONORING CONGRESSMAN IKE SKELTON

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from from Connecticut (Mr. Larson) is recognized for 5 
minutes.
  Mr. LARSON of Connecticut. Mr. Speaker, I rise to honor a fellow 
colleague and a person I have grown to love--our distinguished 
colleague from the Show Me State.
  I was blessed when coming into this Congress that the first committee 
I was appointed to serve on was the Armed Services Committee and to be 
there under the guidance and tutelage of Ike Skelton. I was the last 
person appointed to the committee that year.
  In fact, my mother would often say to me, How come I never see you on 
C-SPAN? That was because I was sitting behind the camera so they 
couldn't actually see me on C-SPAN.
  But Ike Skelton, as he does with everyone, treated the lowest member 
on the committee, who was me, with the same kind of dignity and respect 
and solid advice as he does with every Member of this Chamber.
  Ike Skelton, as has been said by so many speakers with great 
eloquence, cares so deeply for his home State, for his community, for 
his great family, and legacy. Imagine, in this Chamber, sitting and 
serving with a direct descendent of Daniel Boone and knowing how proud 
he was of that legacy and how proud, growing up in his great State, he 
was of his dad, whom I learned about in so many conversations with him, 
and about Harry Truman and the great history of Missouri.
  When you would go there to Lexington, when you would travel and stay 
at his home--and as Steny mentioned--with his wonderful wife, Susie, 
who was such a kind, generous and kindred soul mate of Ike's, you would 
walk around that district and see the respect and the reverence that 
the people held for Ike Skelton.
  I think I was there to talk about ethanol, but I've got to be honest 
with you. Joanne Morrison probably knows a lot about it, but I didn't 
know a great deal about ethanol. By golly, by the time I was through, 
you would have thought I was an expert at it.
  To travel with this man abroad, you see the respect at our war 
colleges, amongst our military leaders, amongst heads of state, but 
most important to him are the men and women who wear the uniform of 
this country.
  He carries his legacy, his great family name, his State, his 
community, and his country. He wears that well on his face. He 
shoulders it well, but he carries in his heart a love and devotion for 
the men and women who serve this great country of ours, and everything 
he has done on this great floor has been on their behalf.
  All men and women who serve in our Armed Forces owe such a great debt 
of gratitude to this humble, passionate servant of our country and the 
proud standard-bearer of his great State of Missouri in the way that he 
has held forth on behalf of the citizens he has sworn to serve and the 
men and women who have represented this great country of ours and who 
have given the full measure of their devotion.

                              {time}  1810

  Like so many here, I love Ike Skelton. He is a man of the House, a 
man for the ages because he led with that big heart of his and cared so 
deeply about people who serve this Nation.
  God bless you, Ike Skelton. We are all better for having served with 
you.

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