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“TRIBUTE TO STERLING EDWARDS RIVES, JR.” mentioning the U.S. Dept of Agriculture was published in the Senate section on pages S3603-S3604 on May 8, 2000.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
TRIBUTE TO STERLING EDWARDS RIVES, JR.
Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, I rise to pay tribute to a friend and patriot Sterling Edwards Rives, Jr. of Petersburg, Virginia who died on February 13, 2000, at the age of 78 years.
A native of Surry County, sterling served in the Army at the close of World War II and then spent a year building airfields in the Philippines. He returned to a position as an inspector with the U.S. Department of Agriculture traveling with his wife Virginia Anne and newborn son Sterling III throughout the Southeast grading peanuts, potatoes and produce. Two more sons Andrew II an Bailey were born as they moved to Petersburg where he began his 35-year career where he held leadership positions in the Christ and Grace Episcopal Church.
Sterling Rives served on the Virginia Republican State Central Committee, as a delegate to four national conventions, vice-chairman of the Petersburg Electoral Board, and as a delegate to the White House Council on Aging.
President Ronald Reagan once told me that ``Politics is not a spectator sport.''
No one took that more to heart than Sterling Rives who believed that it was his civic responsibility and patriotic duty to contribute freely his time and talents to elect those he supported to public office. I was privileged to be one of those public servants whom Sterling took by the hand and guided towards election day after election day.
Sterling Rives drove the original footings for the foundation of the Republican Party of Virginia. He and his family gave tirelessly in election after election.
Just last year Virginians elected a Republican Governor, Lt. Governor, Attorney General and a new Republican majority in the House of Delegates and the Senate for the first time in our state's history. That impressive victory was a most appropriate tribute to Sterling Rives' long public service encouraging people to be active in politics.
We have far too few citizens who recognize the importance of the political process in preserving our democracy and our freedom. The life of Sterling Rives will stand as a model for patriots who seek to preserve our liberty. I know my colleagues join me in paying tribute to Sterling Rives and extending to his family our deepest sympathy.
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