September 30, 2020 - Issue: Vol. 166, No. 170 — Daily Edition116th Congress (2019 - 2020) - 2nd Session

[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E904]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   REMEMBERING FATHER NICHOLAS VIERON

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                            HON. STEVE COHEN

                              of tennessee

                    in the house of representatives

                     Wednesday, September 30, 2020

  Mr. COHEN. Madam Speaker, I rise to pay tribute to Father Nicholas 
Vieron, the much admired retired pastor of Annunciation Greek Orthodox 
Church in Memphis, who passed away Tuesday morning at the age of 94. 
Father Vieron was a revered ecumenical leader in Memphis, serving as 
Chairman of the Memphis Ministerial Association at the time of the 1968 
Memphis Sanitation Workers Strike and the assassination of Dr. Martin 
Luther King, Jr. With Rabbi James Wax, the Reverend Frank McRae, Dean 
William Dimmick and other religious leaders, Father Vieron confronted 
Mayor Henry Loeb the day after the assassination, which helped bring 
the strike to an end and helped bind Memphis together during that time 
of crisis for our city. A native of New Orleans and the son of Greek 
immigrants, he grew up across the street from America's first Greek 
Orthodox Church. Father Vieron came to Memphis to become pastor of 
Annunciation Church in 1955 after attending seminary in Brookline, 
Massachusetts, and served as a priest in Louisville, Kentucky, and 
Huntington, West Virginia. In Huntington, he received a master's degree 
from Marshall College. In Memphis, he received a J.D. from the 
University of Memphis School of Law in 1970. He retired from 
Annunciation in 1991 but stayed busy. For decades, Father Vieron taught 
a 15-week course in the Greek language to all comers, telling students 
that there would be no tests but that they were required to endure his 
corny jokes. My favorite: There are three stages in life--young, middle 
aged, and ``you're looking good.'' For 40 years, he served as chaplain 
to the Memphis Touchdown Club. He also served as editor of The Epistle, 
a newsletter for retired Orthodox priests. In 2015, he received the MLK 
Legacy Award from the National Civil Rights Museum. His wife of 69 
years, Bess, passed in 2017. I want to express my condolences to his 
sons, Leonidas and Paul, his four grandchildren and five great-
grandchildren, the entire Annunciation Greek Orthodox community, and 
his many friends and admirers. Father Vieron led an exceptional life of 
service and he will not be forgotten.

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