Senate Floor: THE SEZNA FAMILY

Mr. President, I apologize to my colleagues and to my constituents for being absent from the Senate this morning, and especially for missing the vote on the Military Construction Appropriations bill. I was attending one of the, tragically, many funeral services being conducted across the country.

If my colleagues will permit me a point of personal privilege, this funeral service had a special and profound impact on me, for the victim was a brilliant young man who was the oldest son, and best friend, of one of my very good friends, Davis Sezna.

The young man who was killed on the 104th floor of the World Trade Center's Tower II, where he had arrived on September 11th for just his sixth day of work there, was Davis Grier Sezna, Jr., known to his family and to all who loved him as "Deeg." His parents, Gail and Davis Sezna, are community leaders in Delaware; they are people I admire and respect; and, again, they are my good friends. Deeg is also survived by a younger brother, Willy, who is a senior in high school, and by his grandmother, Mrs. W.W. Sezna, his grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. H.G. Ingersoll, and numerous aunts, uncles and cousins and seemingly countless friends.

As inconceivable as it is, Deeg, who was 22 years old, was predeceased by his youngest brother, Teddy, who died in a boating accident last year at the age of 15. So the Sezna family has been struck twice by the sudden, tragic death of a healthy, vibrant and much loved son, brother and grandson. Like so many of our fellow citizens, they were so full of life, and then they were gone.

As inconceivable as the tragedy is, even more remarkable to me is the way in which the Sezna family has responded to loss that would cripple many people's faith and spirit. When Deeg was still listed as "missing," they held onto hope as long as they could, joining the legions of loved ones in New York, searching hospitals and talking with the rescue workers and local officials, determined to do everything they humanly could, and asking for God's help, for themselves and for others. As Davis said then, "It would be very selfish at a time like this for anyone to just pray for themselves. We need to pray for all of us. We're not in this alone." When it became undeniable that everything had been done, and that there was no more hope of bringing Deeg home alive, his family continued to reach out to others. This grieving father, who had been in the boat accident in which his youngest son was lost and who had been on the streets of New York searching for his oldest son, this man, who had more reason to feel despair and rage and fear and to just give up than almost anyone, he called me and said, "I will go and stand with you anywhere, any time, any place to tell people, `Don't be afraid.' " With those words, Davis Sezna became more than my friend, he became one of my heroes. When you feel like your world is ending, and I don't know what can do that more than the death of a child, there is immeasurable courage behind the power to believe in the future. In one of the great inspirations I have ever known, the Sezna family still believes; as Davis told Sports Illustrated, when they interviewed him for a profile on Deeg as one of the athletes killed in the terrorist attacks, all the Seznas have been great golfers, "I live for tomorrow. I'm inspired by tomorrow. There will always be tomorrow." In our efforts to respond to the events of September 11th, I can think of no higher goal for us as a nation, than to endeavor to justify the Sezna family's courageous faith in tomorrow.

And I ask unanimous consent that the complete text of the Sports Illustrated profile be printed in the Record.

Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.

The PRESIDING OFFICER.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

The PRESIDING OFFICER.