Lawrence M. `larry' Walsh Sr. Post Office

Floor Speech

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Mr. FOSTER. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to urge my colleagues to vote in favor of my legislation, H.R. 700, to name the Elwood, Illinois, post office after Larry Walsh, Sr., a public servant and a dedicated member of the Will County community.

Mr. Walsh was raised in Joliet and was a graduate of Joliet Junior College and a lifelong resident of Elwood, Illinois. Larry loved the State of Illinois and devoted his life to making it a better place.

He first began his career in public service as a member of the Elwood School Board and continued to serve his community as an elected Jackson Township supervisor, a member of the Will County Board, and an Illinois State Senator representing the 43rd District, a time during which he was widely reputed to have spent a certain amount of time playing poker with his colleague, then State Senator Barack Obama.

Larry finished his career in public service as the Will County executive, a position he held from 2004 until his passing in 2020.

Larry was a family man and a devoted farmer, a voice for disability issues, senior citizens services, and agricultural workers.

He championed the largest infrastructure improvement investment in Will County's history, alongside modernizing his county's public safety resources. Simply put, Will County is a better place today because of the decades of work that Larry devoted to it.

The Lawrence M. ``Larry'' Walsh Sr. Post Office will be a justifiable source of pride and a fitting tribute to a man who dedicated his life to local government and his community.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to vote in favor of this legislation, one of the collegial and noble things that Congress can do for a collegial and noble man.

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