    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1997, Book II)]
    [July 18, 1997]
    [Pages 981-982]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks at the Funeral Service for Hilary Jones in Jasper, Arkansas
    July 18, 1997

        Pastor, to the members of Hilary's family, and to the legion of
    friends who are here today, let me say, first of all, that I feel
    profoundly honored to have been asked by the family to speak for a
    moment or two about my friend. There's not a person here today who
    couldn't stand up here and entertain us and relieve our grief for a few
    moments with Hilary Jones stories. So as we come here to mourn the death
    of our friend, let us remember, as the pastor said, that death is a part
    of life for all of us. And let us take a few moments to celebrate his
    life, for he would have wanted that very much.
        I first met Hilary Jones over 23 years ago now, when I first came to
    Newton County. And I can't exactly describe it, but after the first time
    I met him, I knew that my life would never quite be the same. He wasn't
    like anybody I had ever met before, and I have seen a little bit more of
    the world since then, and I never have met anybody like him since.
    [Laughter]
        He introduced me to the beauty, to the history, and the fantastic
    characters of the Arkansas Ozarks. Some of them are in this church
    building today. He took me into his home and his heart. I learned a lot
    about politics and people. I learned that he was quite a disarming human
    being. The language he spoke was pure Arkansas hillbilly, and I think he
    enjoyed it if you underestimated his intelligence, which could be a
    fatal error, for he was a very smart man.
        He was deeply interested in people who were different from him and
    deeply compassionate with people who were in trouble if he thought they
    were basically good-hearted. And he was so passionate about what he
    cared about. He cared about his family, and he was so passionate, he had
    a very big one. [Laughter] And he was very proud of them.

    [[Page 982]]

        He was so passionate about politics that, when I first him, he could
    actually look at the vote totals in Newton County, precinct by precinct,
    and tell you whether a family had told him the truth or not about how
    they were going to vote. [Laughter]
        He was so passionate about being a Democrat that 22 years ago, when
    I spoke at the Jasper High School commencement and commended to the
    seniors the example of Abraham Lincoln as a person who could overcome
    adversity time and again and keep going in his life, Hilary and a few
    others--some of whom are in this church today--took me outside and said,
    ``Bill, that is a wonderful speech. And you can give that speech in
    Little Rock any day. Don't you ever come up here and brag on that
    Republican President again.'' [Laughter]
        I must say that years later I was amused when I finally talked him
    into coming to visit me at the White House. I persuaded him to spend the
    night in the Lincoln Bedroom--[laughter]--something I failed to do with
    Bo Forney, sitting back there. [Laughter] And afterward, as we kidded
    him about spending the night at the Lincoln Bedroom, he said, ``I did
    that for the President, but I stepped on the side of the bed that was
    under Andrew Jackson's picture.'' [Laughter]
        He was passionate about fish and wildlife. He loved his service on
    the Game and Fish Commission, and I was honored to appoint him. I think
    Steve Wilson, whom I see here today, will tell you that they never had a
    commissioner like him either. He was absolutely fool enough to believe
    we could bring the elk back to Arkansas. No one else in the State
    believed it, but he kept doing it. And sure enough, somehow we had the
    elk come back to Arkansas.
        If you were his friend, he was your friend, through thick and thin,
    in lightness and dark, no matter what happened. If you were his
    political friend, he was your friend whether you won or you lost. But he
    believed that people were basically good. And he believed that the
    purpose of politics was to help ordinary people live their lives better.
        And I learned a lot from him about going to the sale barns and the
    country stores and remote places where most people never went, just to
    listen to people's hopes and dreams and hurts and fears. And I learned
    what ferocious power can beat in the heart of any ordinary citizen who
    believes that he or she can make a difference. Hilary Jones always
    believed he could make a difference. And he always believed he had an
    obligation to try, whether it was in the lives of his children or his
    grandchildren or his friends.
        I always felt that somehow, some way, he had adopted me into his
    family. And I believe he would want me here today if I had never been
    reelected Governor and had gone out in life as one of history's losers,
    because Hilary didn't judge people by whether they were on top or on the
    bottom, he judged them by what they thought was in their hearts.
        I loved this man. He was my friend, my brother, my surrogate uncle
    or father. But what he was to me he was to literally hundreds of other
    people. Look around this church today. God gave Hilary Jones a great
    gift, a unique blend of heart and mind and energy and passion that very
    few people in this life in any position ever have. And he used it well.
        We will miss him. We may not ever see anybody like him again. But I
    ask his family to remember as their hearts are broken that this, too, is
    part of God's plan and how blessed they were that he was their father
    and our friend.
        Thank you.

    Note: The President spoke at approximately 10 a.m. in the Jasper First
    Baptist Church. In his remarks, he referred to Rev. Manual Macks,
    pastor, Jasper First Baptist Church; Bo Forney, longtime friend of the
    President and Mr. Jones; and Steve N. Wilson, director, Arkansas Game
    and Fish Commission.