[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 163 (2017), Part 1]
[Senate]
[Page 1004]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                        REMEMBERING TIM MITCHELL

  Mr. CARDIN. Mr. President, I have said many times that the Senate is 
a family, and today we are a family in mourning. Tim Mitchell, the 
assistant Democratic secretary and a 25-year Senate staffer, lost his 
battle with brain cancer this past Saturday night. It was a battle he 
waged with uncommon courage and grace. We are disconsolate that such an 
outstanding person in the prime of his life has been taken from his 
family and from the Senate. We send our deepest condolences and prayers 
to his beloved wife Alicia; his cherished son Ben; his father, the 
Reverend Dr. Philip Mitchell; his sister Christi; and the rest of his 
family and many, many friends.
  While Tim spent part of his formative years in Binghamton, NY, he was 
born in Boston and also grew up in New Hampshire, so he ultimately 
pledged his sports allegiance to Boston and New England. He called 
himself a P-K--a preacher's kid. He earned his undergraduate degree 
from the State University of New York at Fredonia. He earned his juris 
doctor degree at night while he worked here in the Senate, from 
Catholic University's Columbus School of Law. Tim loved his family most 
of all, but he also loved the Senate, and he loved the Boston Red Sox--
I am not sure of the order there; maybe they were tied. He actually 
acquired two seats from Fenway Park and put them in his basement for 
when he wanted to watch a game. They were just part of his extensive 
collection of Red Sox memorabilia, hats, ties, and the like. I don't 
think any other fan was as excited and as proud as Tim was when the Red 
Sox won the World Series in 2004, ending an 86-year drought.
  Tim started his Senate career following his junior year in college as 
an intern for then-Senator Don Riegle from Michigan. He returned to the 
Senate after he graduated to work as a staff assistant in Senator 
Riegle's office, where he quickly displayed his talents and work ethic 
and was promoted to a job on the Senate Banking Committee. Later, he 
worked on the special Whitewater Committee. He also worked for former 
Democratic Leader Tom Daschle, on his personal staff and on the 
Democratic Policy Committee, before joining the floor staff in 2001.
  As a member of the floor staff, Tim was intimately involved in every 
bill, every nomination, every accomplishment of the Senate. Throughout 
it all, he was always calm, always patient, always courteous, and 
always exhibiting his innate sense of decency and fairness. He was a 
parliamentary expert and a trusted adviser.
  I hope Tim's wife Alicia, his son Ben, and his other family members 
know just how much Tim was loved and respected here in the Senate. 
Given the partisan nature of his job, that is, perhaps, the best 
testament to the type of person Tim was. Our hearts, like theirs, are 
broken. I hope they may find some solace in these words written by the 
Reverend Henry Scott Holland, originally as a sermon, but usually 
reprinted as a poem:

     Death is nothing at all.
     It does not count.
     I have only slipped away into the next room.
     Nothing has happened.

     Everything remains exactly as it was.
     I am I, and you are you, and the old life that we lived so 
           fondly together is untouched, unchanged.
     Whatever we were to each other, that we are still.

     Call me by the old familiar name.
     Speak of me in the easy way which you always used.
     Put no difference into your tone.
     Wear no forced air of solemnity or sorrow.

     Laugh as we always laughed at the little jokes that we 
           enjoyed together.
     Play, smile, think of me, pray for me.
     Let my name be ever the household word that it always was.
     Let it be spoken without an effort, without the ghost of a 
           shadow upon it.

     Life means all that it ever meant.
     It is the same as it ever was.
     There is absolute and unbroken continuity.
     What is this death but a negligible accident?

     Why should I be out of mind because I am out of sight?
     I am but waiting for you, for an interval,
     somewhere very near,
     just round the corner.

     All is well.
     Nothing is hurt; nothing is lost.
     One brief moment and all will be as it was before.
     How we shall laugh at the trouble of parting when we meet 
           again!

                          ____________________