[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 156 (2010), Part 15]
[Senate]
[Pages 22372-22373]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                   REMEMBERING THE VENERABLE ROS MEY

 Mr. WHITEHOUSE. Mr. President, today I commemorate the 
extraordinary life of Venerable Ros Mey, the head Buddhist monk and 
president of the Wat Thormikaram Khmer Temple in Providence. Although 
he passed away on December 12, 2010, at age 85, his teachings of peace 
will live on in the vibrant Cambodian community of Rhode Island in 
which he served.
  Venerable Mey was ordained as a Buddhist monk in Providence at age 62 
and dedicated himself to his faith, his congregation, and to praying 
for peace in Cambodia with his fellow worshipers.
  Venerable Mey's journey to Rhode Island was a perilous one. He and 
his family endured forced labor under the

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Khmer Rouge regime in Cambodia from 1975 until their escape to Thailand 
four years later. They made their way to Rhode Island as part of the 
first wave of refugees from Cambodia. Only several thousand of the 
80,000 monks in Cambodia survived the Khmer Rouge.
  Venerable Mey turned the adversity he experienced into peaceful 
teachings by dedicating his life to the Cambodian community in our 
State. In 1998 he became head monk and president, succeeding the 
Venerable Maha Ghosananda, also a renowned peace activist. Venerable 
Mey was a driving force behind a new worship hall at the Wat 
Thormikaram Temple, which is a spiritual center for Cambodian Buddhists 
in Rhode Island and across the Nation.
  His surviving family, the thousands of Rhode Islanders whose weddings 
and births he officiated, the Cambodian community, and the people of 
our State will remember his teachings of peace.

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