E1732 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — Extensions of Remarks September 11, 1997 TRIBUTE TO JOHN E. ‘‘JIMMY’’ she devoted her life entirely to poor, the first John XXIII Peace Prize. The Gov- WILSON; SPIRIT OF AMERICA homeless, the disenfranchised, and the sick. ernment of honored her in 1972 with the AWARD WINNER This woman who, during her lifetime, walked Award for International Un- with , Presidents, royalty and the most derstanding. HON. TERRY EVERETT powerful individuals on Earth, clothed in the In 1979, Mother Teresa's tireless efforts on OF ALABAMA simple blue and white habit of her order, was behalf of world peace brought her the Nobel happiest when she was attending to the needs Prize for Peace. Even as the world honored IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES of the destitute and ill dying in the gutters of her, the poor were never far from her thoughts Thursday, September 11, 1997 Calcutta, India. She and the sisters of her saying that such honors were important only if Mr. EVERETT. Mr. Speaker, I offer tribute order literally rescued abandoned children they helped the world's needy. Unlike most today to an outstanding member of the Ala- from trash heaps and gave them a lifetime of Nobel ceremonies, for Mother Teresa there bama business community whose labors have care and . She bathed the wounds of lep- was no lavish banquet and she insisted that distinguished him before a national audience. ers and those wracked with AIDS who most the monetary award be given to the poor. I am speaking of Mr. John E. ``Jimmy'' Wil- would not even touch and she brought peace When accepting her she said, ``I son of Luverne, AL, who was honored with the to those suffering the agony of mental illness. choose the poverty of our poor people but I Spirit of America Award presented by the Na- To her, compassion was a vocationÐher gift am grateful to receive it (the Nobel Prize) in tional Grocers Association of July 29, 1997. to mankind which she offered as part of her the name of the hungry, the naked, the home- Mr. Wilson is in good company, joining the devotion to God. less, of the crippled, of the blind, of the lepers, likes of President George Bush, Vice Presi- This tiny, frail woman, whose own body was of all those who feel unwanted, unloved, dent Dan Quayle, and some 350 others who bent with arthritis and wracked with pain, put uncared for throughout society, people that have all received the Spirit of America Award her own physical suffering aside as she have become a burden to the society and are for support of America's independent grocers. worked to bring comfort to others. She said ``I shunned by everyone.'' Mr. Wilson has given much to this country. see God in every human being. When I wash She once said that ``The poor give us much He served honorably in World War II, flying 65 the lepers wounds, I feel I am nursing the more than we give them. They are such bombing missions in the European theater Lord himself. Is it not a beautiful experience?'' strong people, living day-to-day with no food. with the 416 Bombardment Group, 9th Air There is much we all could learn from this And they never curse and complain. We don't Force, U.S. Army. His many military honors in- simple woman of God. have to give them pity or sympathy. We have clude the Distinguished Flying Cross for sav- Born Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhu on August 27, so much to learn from them.'' ing a fellow airman's life, the Air Medal with 11 1910, in in what is now , As if to prove her influence on the peace Oak Leaf Clusters, and the Presidential Cita- she was the youngest of three girls of Alba- process, in 1982 she persuades Israelis and tion for Outstanding Work in Support of nian parents. In 1928, she became a Palestinians to stop shooting at each other Ground Forces. in the Loretto Order which runs mission long enough so she and her sisters could res- His war service, combined with strong mer- schools in India. She chooses the name Te- cue 37 mentally-handicapped children from a chandising skills acquired as a part-time stock resa after a French , TheÂseÁse Martin who hospital in besieged Beirut. boy at T.W. Woolworth's in the early 1930's, was canonized in 1927. What a sight it must have been for the com- served to propel Mr. Wilson toward a lifelong In 1929, Sister Teresa arrived in Calcutta, batants, watching this tiny woman leading a career as a successful businessman. India and began to teach at St. Mary's High group of children through the rubble of war to Beginning in Pensacola and then moving to School. However, teaching was not to be the safety. The courage it must have taken her Montgomery, Mr. Wilson steadily climbed the fulfillment of her life of religious service. In and her followers to walk that path, knowing ladder of the retail grocery business eventually 1946, while riding a train to the mountain town that weapons of all kinds were trained on her acquiring his own store in Luverne, AL, in of to recover from suspected tuber- and her charges. Yet, it was what God told 1971. He branched out to include grocery culosis, she received a calling from God ``to her to do. She had to save those children and businesses in Greenville in 1977 and in Ozark serve Him among the poorest of the poor.'' In she later said that she knew God would not let in 1985. 1947, she was permitted to leave her order her be killed until she saw them to safety. I not only congratulate Mr. Jimmy Wilson on and she moves to the slums of Calcutta to es- In 1983, while at the Vatican visiting with receiving the Spirit of America Award for 1997, tablish her first school. In 1949, a former stu- His Holiness, Pope John Paul II, Mother Te- but for inspiring so many by his example as a dent, Sister Agnes, becomes her first follower resa suffered a heart attack. In 1989, she suf- great American. and within a year, Sister Teresa has papal ap- fered a second, nearly fatal heart attack and f proval to form an order called `` of was given a pacemakerÐthe beginning of a Charity.'' It was founded on , the long list of personal illnesses which never HONORING MOTHER TERESA OF Feast of the Holy . Mother Teresa slowed her pace. CALCUTTA chose for her habit a plain, white with a Mother Teresa traveled to the United States blue border and a simple cross pinned to the in 1985 where President HON. JON D. FOX left shoulder. This same year, she becomes a awarded her the Medal of Freedom, the high- OF citizen of India. est civilian award given by the United States. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES In 1952, Mother Teresa received permission A frequent visitor to the United States, Mother from India to use an abandoned Temple to Teresa returned in November 1996 when this Thursday, September 11, 1997 Kali, the Hindu goddess of death and destruc- 105th Congress authorized that she be grant- Mr. FOX of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I tion. There she opened the Kalighat Home for ed honorary American citizenshipÐa rare rise today to honor, Mother Teresa of Cal- the Dying. That same year, she opens Nirmal honor. cutta, the closet person to a living we Hriday (``Pure Heart''), a second home for the I had the distinct honor of meeting Mother may ever know, a woman who transcended dying followed the next year by her first or- Teresa at that time and it was one of the most religious and political differences wherever her phanage. memorable moments I have ever experienced. presence was felt. Whether she was opening The Indian Government gave Mother Teresa I have never felt such a presence of compas- an AIDS or, as she did in my own dis- a 34-acre plot of land near the city of Asansol sion, faith, and charity in my life. I had pre- trict, establishing a homeless shelter, she in the mid-1950's. There she opened a leper viously worked with her followers and saw reached out to all people. colony called Shanti Nagar (``Town of Peace''). their good work at a homeless shelter in my When Mother Teresa died on Friday, the Mother Teresa won her first prize for her hu- district run by members of her order. heart of a world already in mourning for Diana, manitarian work in 1962 when she was given The day she visited our Nation's capital and Princess of Wales, broke in grief over the the Padma Shri Award for Distinguished Serv- Congress paid tribute to her with honorary citi- death of this humble Indian woman and for the ice. It was at this time that she began her tra- zenship, I will never forget the sight of her. passing of what many have called a ``living dition of giving the money from such prizes to Clad in her simple robe and sandals she stood saint.'' the poor. there among the ornate surroundings of the Mr. Speaker, I was personally deeply sad- In 1965, His Holiness, Pope Paul VI places Capitol Building. This symbol of American dened by the announcement from the Mission- the under direct papal freedom and liberty which had seen the like of aries of Charity that Mother Teresa, the found- authority and directs Mother Teresa to expand Jefferson, Lincoln, Kennedy, and Roosevelt er of the order, had died. For the past 50 her calling beyond India. In 1971, Pope Paul had never seen the likes of her. She accepted years, Mother Teresa defined compassion as honored her by awarding Mother Teresa the the honor but took the opportunity to remind