James M. Jeffords: “it is my sad duty to inform my colleagues that this morning the president pro tempore of the Vermont Senate was killed…”

“it is my sad duty to inform my colleagues that this morning the president pro tempore of the Vermont Senate was killed in an automobile accident. He was a good friend of mine and will long be remembered. In my home State of Vermont, a calling to join the legal profession has historically been taken as a calling to public service. No family has taken that more seriously than the Bloomers of Rutland, VT. Asa Bloomer, legendary trial lawyer and rhetoritician, served his community well in the Vermont State Senate. In his heyday, in the 1950's and early 1960's, he was the acknowledged single source of power in the Vermont Senate. He rose to the rank of president pro tempore, a post he held at the time of his death, in 1963, suffering a heart attack in the legislative halls. He was a close friend of my father's, and brought me into close contact with the Bloomer family. Quite naturally, his older son Bob, a lawyer, followed his father to the senate where he served with distinction. Then his brother, a fellow lawyer and good friend, John Bloomer, ran for, and was elected to, the Vermont Senate; 2 years ago he was elected as was his father, as president pro tempore of the senate. He held that position until this morning, when enroute to the State House in Montipelier to preside at an important meeting of his judiciary committee, his life was tragically taken in an automobile accident.”