[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 158 (2012), Part 6]
[Senate]
[Pages 7513-7514]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                    HONORING THE LIFE OF BOB BETHELL

  Mr. MORAN. Madam President, I woke up this morning in Kansas with 
some sad news. One of our State legislators, Bob Bethell, a 13-year 
member of the Kansas House of Representatives, died in a car wreck late 
last night. The Kansas legislature has had a difficult session and 
finally concluded, I believe after 100 days of the legislative session, 
this year's work in Topeka, and one of our central Kansas legislators 
on the drive home from Topeka back to Alden, KS, was involved in a one-
car accident, a fatality.
  I rise tonight to pay respect to my friend and former colleague Bob 
Bethell, and express my respect and gratitude for his public service, 
and my care and concern, in fact my love, for his wife Lorene and his 
family and friends.
  Bob Bethell was, I suppose you could call him, a great politician in 
the sense that his constituents loved and admired him. They respected 
him. They cared about him. He could be called a great politician 
because in Topeka he was someone whose voice was listened to. But 
nothing about Bob Bethell was a politician.
  Bob Bethell was a person who was a Baptist minister in his small 
hometown. He loved God greatly. God was the focus of his life. He loved 
the people God created in his community and across Kansas. In fact, Bob 
became the administrator of a nursing home because of his care for 
senior citizens. It was that extension of his care for seniors that 
caused him to want to serve in the legislature. Bob wanted to extend 
that opportunity to make a difference in the lives of the people he 
cared for in his profession with public policy decisions that were 
important to them and their future and their families in Topeka, KS.
  Again, I would say there is nothing political about Bob Bethell. He 
was respected and someone everybody enjoyed being around, but it wasn't 
because he as a politician calculated what the right answer was or how 
to get along with people or one who took a poll to discover what the 
issues were that people supported; it was just that Bob Bethell, in his 
love of God, had a love of human beings, of citizens of Kansas. So we 
would see Bob Bethell with a smile on his face at every parade, at 
every community meeting.
  I think sometimes in our lives, when we see an elected official, we 
may see someone walk across the street sometimes to avoid the political 
conversation. But, again, there was nothing political about Bob; he was 
somebody who cared about people and it showed. He enjoyed being around 
people; loved the conversation. He worked hard at being a constituent-
service-oriented member in the Kansas House of Representatives. It is 
so sad for us to lose such a person.
  I hope Lorene and her family and friends in Alden find comfort in the 
belief that God will care for Bob Bethell in the life hereafter. They 
believe that in their lives. They demonstrated that to the people 
across Kansas, and their focus was a love of others. Bob is a role 
model for all of us to make certain we focus on the things that 
matter--not the public opinion polls and not the calculation of how to 
get along with people, but the idea that we in public service are given 
an opportunity to make a great difference in the lives of others, and 
it ought to be that motivating factor, the one that Bob Bethell 
exhibited throughout his life, that we should exemplify.
  So Robba and I--my wife and I--extend our greatest sympathies and 
care and concern to the people across Kansas, but especially to the 
family and the folks who knew Bob so well in his home district, the 
113th House of Representatives District in Kansas. Our prayers and 
thoughts are extended to them, and we praise God for the life well 
lived of one of His servants, Bob Bethell.
  I yield the floor.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. BROWN of Ohio. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the 
order for the quorum call be rescinded.

[[Page 7514]]

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

                          ____________________