Hank Johnson: “Much has been said about my friend, teacher, and mentor, John Lewis. He was a family man, married to Lillian for 44…”

“Much has been said about my friend, teacher, and mentor, John Lewis. He was a family man, married to Lillian for 44 years, and to that union bore a son, John-Miles, who is with us today. Along with John Lewis' brothers and sisters, he was number three of ten. He has a large extended family. And that family entrusted John to the world. And for 33 years, he was our colleague. For 14 years, he was mine. I just want to say to the family that we here in Congress feel your pain. We appreciate your sacrifice in allowing John to do what he did for the world and for Congress. I want you to know that we stand with you, we feel your pain, and we will never forget your dear brother, uncle, cousin, whoever he was to you. We will never forget him. We know that he loved you. He would depart this place to go to the family reunion during the summer down in Alabama where the family still owned hundreds of acres of land that they farmed even when his two sharecropping parents gave birth to John. And so he was a family man. Thank you, family, for entrusting him to us.”