Lynn C. Woolsey: “when I opened my holiday cards this season, one in particular stood out. It was bigger than the others. It was more…”

“when I opened my holiday cards this season, one in particular stood out. It was bigger than the others. It was more colorful. It had several pictures instead of just one. It was from the Matsui family, and just about every picture included young Anna Matsui, Bob's only grandchild. The love that this man had for his family, and this little girl in particular, practically jumped off the page. It saddens me deeply that Anna won't grow up knowing more of her grandpa, but I am certain that her parents and her grandmother will not let her forget him. She will grow up strengthened by his leadership, his integrity, and his kindness. I couldn't look at Anna's pictures without thinking that, when Bob was her age, he was living in an internment camp with other Japanese- Americans who had been rounded up and incarcerated after the attack on Pearl Harbor. It was, of course, one of the great stains on our Nation's history, and Bob spent his public life trying to somehow correct that ugly injustice. I imagine that Bob's connection to Anna was stronger because his own early years were so unsettled, because he wanted his granddaughter to have a childhood full of innocence and happy memories. Bob Matsui stood out in this Chamber--for his policy intellect; for his sense of compassion and justice; for the esteem he earned on both sides of the aisle; but most of all for his fundamental decency.”