[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 143 (Wednesday, September 6, 2023)]
[Senate]
[Page S4217]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                       Remembering Bill R. Fuller

  Mr. MORAN. Mr. President, I rise today to honor the life and to mourn 
the passing of a Kansan whom I was privileged to know for many years 
and to work with for many years--Bill R. Fuller. Mr. Fuller touched 
lives, the lives of everyone who knew him, and he left the world and 
our State a better place.
  He is, in many ways, a traditional, typical Kansan. He was raised on 
a family farm in rural Ottawa County. Bill knew--as farmers do, as kids 
growing up on farms know--he knew the value of hard work, he knew the 
value of service, and he practiced that and he preached that.
  He attended Miltonvale Rural High School and graduated in 1956. He 
was the chapter president of his FFA chapter. He participated in band 
and choir, was a member of the National Honor Society, and was a member 
of the mile relay team that set a new record at the K-State indoor 
meet.
  Wheat harvest, like to many Kansans, was an important part of Bill's 
life, an important part of his early life. And during his childhood 
years, his family was selected to be part of the Harvest Brigade during 
World War II, agreeing to follow harvest across the country with 
Massey-Harris Model 21 new-technology harvesting machines--something we 
now call the combine.
  After graduating from Kansas State University with a degree in 
agriculture, Bill moved his young family to Miltonvale to continue 
working on the family farm and to be a teacher.
  Years later, he was elected in 1979 to serve in the Kansas House of 
Representatives, the Kansas Legislature. It is here that I first met 
him. He had a really close working relationship with a Senator that I 
served with in the State senate--Senator Ross Doyen of Concordia. They 
served and worked together on issues and committees related to 
agriculture and livestock and where he--Bill Fuller--would later become 
its chairman.
  After leaving the legislature, he took a position as assistant 
director of public affairs for the Kansas Farm Bureau. Bill was known 
and respected as a champion of agriculture in the halls of the Kansas 
statehouse and here in Congress. He was later appointed by President 
George W. Bush as the executive director of USDA Kansas Farm Service 
Agency, FSA, and there he supervised more than 500 employees, managed a 
$41 million budget, and administered 30 programs for conservation, farm 
loans, and disaster relief and benefits to Kansas farmers and ranchers.
  In 2007, he was selected to receive the Administrator's Honor Award. 
He served from March 12, 2001, and retired January 29--birth date of 
our State--in 2009. He served two full terms as FSA director.
  Bill worked tirelessly to make government work better for farmers and 
ranchers across Kansas. And we felt it; we saw it; we enjoyed working 
with him on behalf of agriculture in Kansas.
  Bill also took the time to mentor and inspire many young people to be 
involved in agriculture, both as a teacher and, later, with the Kansas 
Farm Bureau. Members of my staff have been students of Bill's, and I am 
grateful for his willingness to mentor and teach the next generation of 
farmers and those creating farm policy.
  I know I will speak for many others when I say we will all miss his 
wisdom, his knowledge, but also his kindness and his caring. It is just 
a joy to be with him. In Kansas, we know the value of community, and we 
rely upon our neighbors in time of need. Bill demonstrated his 
connection with his neighborhood, with his community, as a member of 
the Lions Club, as a leader of his Lions Club, and his work as a 
volunteer in the rural fire department. Rural fire districts are very 
important in our State, and Bill understood the value and spent much of 
his free time repairing and constructing firefighting equipment.
  Bill's life is an example of the difference that a person can make. I 
am glad he lived the life he lived. I am glad he made the difference 
that he made. And I know his legacy will live on in the agriculture 
community in the State that he loved. My prayers are with his wife 
Janice, his three children, and the entire Fuller family and all in 
Kansas who knew and loved him.
  I yield the floor.