[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 156 (2010), Part 13]
[House]
[Pages 18561-18562]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                          HONORING IKE SKELTON

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentlewoman from California (Mrs. Davis) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mrs. DAVIS of California. I rise today to say thank you, thank you to 
Ike for being such a great mentor, for taking me under your wing, for 
telling me a little bit about what it was like for you when you chaired 
the Personnel Committee a number of years ago. And I think you told me 
that early on, when I came onto the Armed Services Committee, but it 
was a few years later when I actually had the great honor of chairing 
that subcommittee. And then I felt such an incredible burden because I 
thought, you know, Ike has done this before, and how could I live up to 
who he had been and the way he had cared for the troops and their 
families and kind of got through some of the really tough times, 
because when you deal with those issues, you know that you're going to 
be looking, wanting to do everything in the world when you can't, when 
there are limits to what you can do.
  And I just really remember you telling me about that and letting me 
know, get in there, but you better do a good job, he said. I want you 
to do a good job. I don't want you to screw it up. And so I certainly 
had that burden.
  But more than anything else, Ike, you are such a splendid gentleman, 
and we use the word kind of loosely here. Sometimes I think we often 
say ``to the gentleman from'' whatever State that might be. You are the 
gentleman. You are the epitome of what we all believe to be someone who 
serves in this body and who cares so deeply and who has such strong 
principles and who teaches us all. And I think we all want to live up 
to that standard you set. It's not easy, and you made it really hard 
for everybody to do that, but I think we all strive for that the best 
we can.
  I know that I didn't have an opportunity to be in your district, but 
you came to my district. And you and your late wife, Susie, were there, 
and we had just the most marvelous evening.
  I remember I was then at an event that you spoke at, and I remember 
looking around the room and everybody was just, you know, transfixed, 
really, on your words. You were telling one of those stories and it 
went on forever, but that didn't seem to bother anybody. They were just 
delighted to be in your company and to hear you speak and to hear the 
way you interacted with all the people in the room, but telling those 
stories. President Truman, of course, came into that story and your 
father.
  I have just enjoyed serving with you. I can't tell you how much I'm 
going to miss you. It's going to be a lot. I know you're going to miss 
everybody here as well. But we are all so much better for having served 
with you.
  Thank you.

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