Steve Cohen: “the City of Memphis, Tennessee, has lost one of its finest citizens, Kenneth Whalum, Sr. Kenneth Whalum, Sr., passed…”

“the City of Memphis, Tennessee, has lost one of its finest citizens, Kenneth Whalum, Sr. Kenneth Whalum, Sr., passed away last night. He was a pastor, he was a two-time city councilman, he was a father, he was a family man, he was a leader in our community. For 30 years, he was the pastor of the Olivet Baptist Church and very highly respected in the community and among the clergy. For 8 years, he was a city councilman, one time as a district councilman in a community known as Orange Mound. Then when he saw a higher calling and the need to address a higher subject, he ran against an incumbent city councilman, at the time unheard of, and was elected at large, one of the first African Americans elected at large to the Memphis City Council. He was also a postal service employee and had a career there and rose through the ranks to director of personnel. For that reason, this House, and this week with the President's action, the post office at Third Street in Memphis, Tennessee, will be named the Kenneth T. Whalum, Sr., Postal Building. That is a tribute to his work and all postal employees. He had a family of which the City of Memphis is proud. His son Kenneth, Jr., is a pastor and a member of the school board. His son Kirk Whalum is a world-renowned saxophonist, and his other son Kevin is a musician with a contract and a poet. There have been many great families in the City of Memphis to get involved in politics, but none greater than the Whalums.”