Kay Bailey Hutchison: “cheerful, fun, accessible, down to earth, loyal, friend--those are the words you think of immediately when describing…”

“cheerful, fun, accessible, down to earth, loyal, friend--those are the words you think of immediately when describing Paul Coverdell. I am not going to make a long statement today because I know there will be a time set aside for our memorials to Paul Coverdell. I have seen some of our friends today--Paul's friends, my friends--and many of them do not feel capable of talking about him right now. It is not that he wasn't one of our greatest friends. They are not here because they can't talk about him yet. This is a man who served our country in so many ways, all the things a good citizen should do: He served in the Army; he was the head of the Peace Corps; he was a wonderful Senator, one of our leaders in the majority--the fourth highest ranking among us. I do want to say more about him later, but for now I think our majority leader said it very well last night. All of our hearts are broken for the loss of this wonderful man who will have every tribute that we can give him in the future weeks. I yield the floor.”