John Boehner: “Good morning to all of you and welcome back for the 37th annual Former Members Day. I look around the audience and see a…”

“Good morning to all of you and welcome back for the 37th annual Former Members Day. I look around the audience and see a lot of familiar faces. I just want to say thank you. Thank you for your service to the institution and thank you for what you are continuing to do. I presume that some of you know, but of your colleagues, Bob Walker's, wife passed away several days ago. Our prayers are with Bob and his family. Bob and I served together. His wife was a great influence on him and on his career, and it's sad to see her go over a fight with cancer that had gone on since last summer. I had to come today, one, to see all of you, but to see my good friend Bob Dole. Bob and I got to know each other in 1994, when I was this bomb-throwing new Member, relatively new Member--Sarpalius remembers--and then in 1995 after Republicans took the majority, Bob and I sat in many bicameral leadership meetings together. And for some young whippersnapper who didn't know the ways around here, not that I always agreed with Senator Dole, but I always had great respect for him. Especially now, looking back those 12, 13 years ago, I realize how much I learned from Bob. I think Bob represents all that we would expect of ourselves in his demeanor, the way he did his business here. He represents an entire generation of Americans, the World War II generation, and I couldn't miss this opportunity to come and say hello to him.”