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[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E219]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
OBITUARY OF MY FATHER WILLIAM QUIGLEY
______
HON. MIKE QUIGLEY
of illinois
in the house of representatives
Wednesday, February 27, 2019
Mr. QUIGLEY. Madam Speaker, I rise to include in the Record the
obituary of my father William Quigley, published in The Chicago Sun-
Times on February 10, 2019.
William Quigley, Army Veteran, Father of Congressman, Dies at 92
Abandoned by his mother, the baby boy--he was about 2--
ended up at an Indiana orphanage during the Great Depression.
His luck changed when a WWI veteran and his wife filled out
the ``boy or girl'' portion of an adoption application with
the words: ``any child we can love.''
That veteran, William Earl Quigley, made his adopted son
his namesake and gave him whatever else he could working as a
handyman and farmhand in a rural area outside Indianapolis.
The origin story stayed with him always--from when he
served in the Army during the Korean War era as a newlywed to
the time he retired with a pension from AT&T--and formed the
bedrock motivation of his life: ``You work hard to give your
kids a better chance than you had.''
On Saturday, after a long battle with Parkinson's disease,
Mr. Quigley, 92, died knowing he did just that.
His daughter Chris is a retired school superintendent. His
daughter Linda was a social worker. His son Dan, who passed
away two years ago, owned a used-record store. And his son
Mike is a U.S. congressman.
``He didn't like most politicians, so the irony that his
son grew up to be one was not lost upon him,'' said Mike
Quigley, who represents Illinois' 5th Congressional District.
Despite that fact, Mr. Quigley insisted on standing the
entire time as his son was sworn in to the House of
Representatives in 2009.
Mr. Quigley regularly wrote letters to politicians calling
out ``idiocy and hypocrisy'' and dinner conversation could
easily be mistaken for political debate at the Quigley house.
Whatever adopted dog the family had at the time--there were
many and they were all called ``Missy'' because it was easy
to remember--was certainly well fed.
``He'd spoil those dogs rotten, and sing to them even,
because they went through similar things as him. He knew what
it was like to be an orphan,'' Mike Quigley said, recalling
his dad's habit of mixing table scraps with gravy and
offering it to the dogs.
Mr. Quigley had a unique appreciation for food surpluses.
``When you're hungry, you'll eat anything,'' he recalled
his father saying. ``We'd be like, `Yeah, right!' And he'd
never elaborate, he'd just say, `Trust me.' ''
Mr. Quigley, who went by Bill, was starting his second year
at Purdue University when he was drafted into the Army during
the Korean War. He married Joan Louise Deputy in the chapel
of a military training facility in Georgia; the couple
celebrated their 67th wedding anniversary last June.
Mr. Quigley spent his post-military career working for AT&T
as a supervising engineer. A promotion brought him to the
Chicago area in 1967. He settled in Carol Stream. Upon
retirement, he moved to Ottawa, Illinois, where he
volunteered at a homeless shelter and served on the Ottawa
Planning Commission.
His hobbies included chess and reading. He also built
radios, stereos--and his family's first color TV.
He was also fanatical about the Indianapolis 500; he
sported his checkered socks and stopwatches to the race on as
many as 60 occasions.
``To me he represented a more realistic aspect of the
American Dream. He did it all to put a roof over our heads
and food on the table,'' Mike Quigley said.
``He came from less than nothing and he raised four kids.
My accomplishments are a shadow compared to what he was able
to do,'' he said.
In addition to his wife and children, Quigley is also
survived by six grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.
____________________