Mike Pence: “I have been very moved by the comments of my colleagues today, and I also rise to express, as this resolution suggests…”

“I have been very moved by the comments of my colleagues today, and I also rise to express, as this resolution suggests, the profound sorrow of the House of Representatives for the death of Indiana Governor Frank O'Bannon. I was greeted by my wife, Karen, as I returned from the grocery store Saturday. She, with tears in her eyes, told me simply that Frank had died. And throughout last week, along with tens of thousands of Hoosiers, our family labored in prayer, not so much on behalf of a Governor as we did on behalf of a friend, because that is what Frank O'Bannon was to tens of thousands of Hoosiers. I will never forget years ago, long before I entered public life, chatting with Governor Frank O'Bannon about the State of Indiana, and his face virtually lit up as he said, you do get to feel that you know somebody in every little town in this State when you do this job. I always had the feeling for Governor Frank O'Bannon that Indiana was a small town, if not even a family, and it did not matter what our politics were, that was 8:00 to 5:00 with Frank O'Bannon. After 5 o'clock we were Hoosiers, and we came together and on so many occasions. I remember, with great fondness, his intense interest in me and in my family and in my children. He had this unusual quality, that I have reflected on with my colleagues from Indiana, of making everyone else in the room feel that they were more important than him.”