[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 152 (2006), Part 11] [Senate] [Pages 14988-14989] [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]TRIBUTE TO WINTHROP PAUL ROCKEFELLER Mrs. LINCOLN. Mr. President, I thank my colleague from West Virginia and my colleagues from Oklahoma and Vermont for allowing us this opportunity. Today I rise to pay tribute to one of Arkansas' great public servants, business leaders, and philanthropists, our Lieutenant Governor, Winthrop Paul Rockefeller. Winthrop passed away quietly last Sunday after a period of illness. Words can hardly express the sense of loss we in Arkansas feel at the passing of Winthrop. Everyone has heard of the Rockefeller name, there is no doubt. It is renowned the world over. Truth be told, Win could have used that name and the family fortune to do whatever he wanted or nothing at all. Many in similar circumstances have chosen to indulge themselves in personal excess. But not Win. He chose to live the life of a servant. He had a plaque placed at his home on Petit Jean Mountain in Arkansas that really sums up how he lived and what he believed. The plaque quoted Micah, chapter 6, verse 8: He has showed us, O man, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God. All through his life, you see evidence of his desire to live out that Scripture. He was compassionate and thoughtful. He showed a strong love for his fellow man and a commitment to leaving this world a better place than he found it. Part of that commitment was expressed through his work at Little Rock-based Winrock International--one of the world's leading incubators of economic progress for developing economies. His work there not only has had a profound impact on 107 nations spread across the globe but also has impacted Arkansas' rural areas as well. I have worked closely with Winrock International on many of those initiatives and have been proud to do so. His Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation has also helped enrich the quality of life for rural America, particularly in the area of home ownership in my home area; that is, the Mississippi Delta. He also strongly believed in developing the potential in our young people. One of his favorite organizations was the Boy Scouts of America. He [[Page 14989]] served on the executive board of the National Council, and he was president of the Quapaw Area Council in 1997 and thereafter was a vice president. He also founded a program called Books in the Attic in which Boy Scouts could collect used books to distribute to families. Most importantly, however, he served for many years as an assistant Scoutmaster for Troop 12, and he attended Scout camp with his son regularly, as well as Scout meetings. Win was also the father of two special needs children. His desire to see them and others like them succeed in life moved him to open a school for differently abled children called the Academy at Riverdale in Little Rock. This is just another example of the kind of heart he possessed. Throughout his lifetime, Win also served in charitable organizations in many ways. The list is long, but some of the charities include the Arkansas State Police Commission, the President's Council on Rural America, and on and on. He served as a Texas Christian University trustee and was on the national boards of Ducks Unlimited, and the Nature Conservancy. He served on the boards of the Arkansas Cancer Research Center and the Arkansas Arts Center Foundation. He was a trustee of the Winthrop Rockefeller Charitable Trust and Rockefeller Foundation. In his spare time he was one of the finest Lieutenant Governors the State of Arkansas has ever known. As I close paying tribute to this thoughtful, kind man, I am reminded of the story of David. He was looked upon as the most unlikely of men to become king of Israel. In the same way, it was easy for many to believe that they could look at outward things--Win's money perhaps, family connections, and his status--and draw conclusions about who he was. But, as with David, man looks on the outside but God looks in the heart. Win's heart was always in the proper place, a faithful place. I truly believe that his heart has now found its rightful place in the hands of his King. My condolences go out to his lovely wife Lisenne, his three daughters and five sons, to his extended family and my very dear friend and colleague, Senator Jay Rockefeller, and I pray the Lord will keep this entire Rockefeller family in this time of grief. Mr. President, I am proud to yield to my colleague from the great State of Arkansas, Senator Pryor. The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Arkansas is recognized. Mr. PRYOR. Mr. President, we lost a great Arkansan this week and also a great American. I rise today to give tribute to Winthrop Paul Rockefeller. When I think of Win Paul, I think of a man who demonstrated throughout the course of his life great faith, courage, and humility. He was a friend to me, but he was a friend to thousands of people around our State and around our Nation. He set a high standard for public service and for philanthropy and a high standard for leadership. In fact, he is one of those people who, regardless of his station in life, even had he been born without a penny to his name, would have been selfless, and he would have lived a sacrificial life just as he did. He has done so many great things for the State of Arkansas, for the country and for the world. Let me just name a few of the charities that he has been deeply involved with: The Boy Scouts of America, Project ChildSave, the Arkansas Literary Festival, the President's Council on Rural America, the Bill Fish Foundation, Ducks Unlimited, the Nature Conservancy, the Arkansas Coalition for Juvenile Justice--to name just a few. He has helped so many people along the way. He has inspired people with the time he spent with them but also with his generosity. I experienced that when I was about 10 or so years old. My father was the newly elected Governor of Arkansas and Win Paul walked in, a young man, and on the spot he bought for the Governor's mansion and gave to the State of Arkansas a new stove for the kitchen because he thought that Liza Jane Ashley, the cook at Governor's mansion, should not have to labor over that old, dilapidated stove she had. That is the way he was. We will never know the thousand acts of kindness he did for people. I have to single out one organization that he loved so much and he is closely identified with in Arkansas and that is the Boy Scouts. He was involved in that organization for 30 years, and he led by example. The Boy Scouts' motto is ``Be prepared.'' I think that Win Paul Rockefeller was always prepared to help his fellow man. He was always looking for ways to be of service. The Boy Scouts' slogan is ``Do a good turn daily,'' and certainly he lived by that and lived by a very deep faith. He demonstrated his faith every single day that we all knew him. Like my colleague from Arkansas, we extend our prayers to Lisenne, their children, and to Jay Rockefeller and the entire Rockefeller family and all of their friends and all the people they have touched. We just want to say we know that he is in a better place. We know that he has been greeted at the Pearly Gates with open arms. We will truly miss Winthrop Paul Rockefeller. I yield the floor. Mr. ROCKEFELLER. Mr. President, I thank the chairman of the full committee and ranking member for their generosity in allowing, hopefully, 15 minutes for eulogizing Win Paul. Win Paul was my first cousin. I think people need to know, he died from a really horrible form of cancer. We knew it was going to be difficult. He went to Seattle to get a variety of bone marrow transplants, and wasn't going anywhere. So, in effect, he came back to Arkansas, his home. In many ways like his father, in some ways under the shadow of his father, but in all ways committed to the people of Arkansas. He originally came back to Arkansas at the age of 24 when his father died. He wanted to do good. When I think about him, I just think of his desire to be helpful to people. Both of my colleagues from Arkansas mentioned his relations, working with the Boy Scouts. One thing he was really proud of is that he racially integrated the Little Rock Boy Scouts, so that there were two sides. I feel a great sense of loss personally as his first cousin, who knew him very well. He had a great affinity for Arkansas, which is a State that I love because it is very much like West Virginia. He had a wonderful family, eight children. Several of them have very difficult developmental disabilities. He has, for that reason, and I think because of his general humanity, poured himself into people who do have developmental problems. Both Senators from Arkansas mentioned the Riverdale Academy, which I think tripled in size since it was founded in 2004. He was ultimately a Lieutenant Governor who wanted to be Governor to do what all Governors want to do, which is to live out their vision, make his vision for Arkansas come true. He didn't have that chance. He gracefully withdrew from the race when it became evident to him that things weren't going to be very good in terms of his health. He came back to Arkansas a very, very sick person to die, to his home and to his God. I am going to miss him. I thank my colleagues for indulging in this moment of thought about a family member to me and a political leader and friend to my two beloved colleagues from Arkansas. He will be at home in Heaven. ____________________