Chuck Grassley: “I rise to share in the memory of one of this body's most esteemed colleagues, Senator Paul Coverdell. His untimely death…”

“I rise to share in the memory of one of this body's most esteemed colleagues, Senator Paul Coverdell. His untimely death Tuesday was a shock to us all. My prayers and condolences go out to his family at their time of mourning. It so happens that Senator Coverdell was born in my home state of Iowa--in Des Moines. That made him an honorary constituent of mine. For that reason, he was always a special colleague to me. We in this body knew of his background in the Peace Corps just before he was elected to the Senate. He very quickly began to show his outstanding leadership skills. He built a respect among his colleagues because of his hard work and his dedication to those issues most dear to him--especially education and the war on drugs. Senator Coverdell did almost all of his work behind-the-scenes, work that the public never knew about. But we knew, because we worked with him. His interest was not the limelight. You rarely saw his name in the papers. Instead, it was rolling up his sleeves and working one-on-one with his colleagues in an effective way. No one among us had such energy, enthusiasm for public service, and organizing ability.”