Tribute to Jim McKee

TRIBUTE TO JIM MCKEE

Mr. DeWINE. Mr. President, I rise today to pay tribute to a dear and cherished friend, a mentor and a role model, former Yellow Springs, OH, chief of police of 34 years, Jim McKee, who passed away on January 18 of this year at the age of 73.
Raised in Springfield, OH, Jim McKee moved to Yellow Springs when he was 18 years old, fresh out of high school, in search of a job. During his first year in Yellow Springs, Jim held a number of different positions, working in a shoe repair shop and later at Mills Lawn Elementary School.

It was at Mills Lawn Elementary School that I first met my future wife Frances, in first grade, but it was also at Mills Lawn I first met Jim McKee. Jim was the person who kept things going at Mills Lawn. I remember how much respect, love, and admiration the students had for Jim.

I first saw in Jim the ability he had to connect with people. I saw it as a child. I remember he would gather the students together and talk to them about how we needed to keep the place looking good and how important that was. I remember how we looked up to him and how much we respected him.

Eventually, Jim McKee took a job at Wright Patterson Air Force Base near my hometown of Yellow Springs. But by 1957, Jim decided he needed to move on. True to form, Jim saw this change not as a bad thing but really as a new opportunity to do something he had always dreamed of doing, and that was to get involved in law enforcement. This was his chance, his opportunity. Before long, he was realizing that dream. The village of Yellow Springs then hired him as a police officer. He joined a department of two officers and a chief, a small department at the time. Within 2 short years and the recognition of his talent and his hard work, Jim McKee was appointed chief of police.

In this new leadership position, Jim McKee soon found himself dealing with issues he probably did not think he was going to be dealing with, issues of historic importance, because at that time the civil rights movement was beginning to sweep our country. The civil rights movement had reached Yellow Springs, a small community in southwest Ohio, my hometown. It reached Yellow Springs sooner than most other parts of the country.

Jim McKee was one of the few African-American chiefs of police in the State of Ohio. Jim McKee guided my hometown with great skill through a very difficult period of time. As one of the few African-American chiefs of police in the State, really one of the few in the country at the time, Jim McKee faced his own civil rights issues early on in the movement. Everybody in Yellow Springs, a community then and now of great diversity and a community that then and now embodies a person's right to free speech, everybody in Yellow Springs respected and liked Jim McKee. That made all the difference in the world.

Whether Jim realized it or not during this tumultuous era, Jim was in fact playing a part in our American history. Jim McKee kept the peace, maintained order, and all the while respected people's freedom of speech, their right to demonstrate, and their civil rights. He did it in a professional way.

I remember when Dr. Martin Luther King came to Yellow Springs to deliver the commencement address at Antioch College. Chief McKee, of course, provided his security detail. Years later, recalling this experience with Dr. King, Chief McKee had this to say:

At the time there were rumors they were out to get him. I saw him do his nonviolent teachings. I drove around in the car with him for 2 days. He was a perfect Christian gentleman and I was frightened to death because I was providing his security. We told people he was staying at the Antioch Inn, but in fact he was right across the street from where I live—in the home his wife, Coretta, lived in as a student at Antioch years before. You would think they would have figured it out, with all the police cruisers parked out front. I was never so glad to see a plane take off.

Despite whatever concerns Jim McKee may have had, the chief performed his duties with a great sense of professionalism, with honor and courage. Though he dealt with significant issues on the national stage, Chief McKee dedicated his career to Yellow Springs and to keeping the community he loved so much safe and free from crime.

As Members of the Senate know—or may not know—Yellow Springs is not a large city. It is a village. It is a small village where people know their neighbors and watch out for one another. Even today, I believe there are probably only about eight or so police officers on the force. Chief McKee, as the local police chief, was really an icon in his own community. He was greatly admired and respected as an officer, as a protector, but most of all as a friend.

Though I first met him as an elementary school student, actually in the first grade, I had the opportunity later on to reconnect with him. Our lives came together again when I became assistant county prosecuting attorney and he was by that time the dean of the chiefs of police in Greene County. I knew him then and later when I became the prosecutor of our home county. We worked on a number of cases that arose out of Yellow Springs, several very difficult rape cases. We worked on several of those cases together. During this time, I learned a great deal about how Chief McKee treated people and how he dealt with some of the most tense situations. Perhaps most importantly, though, I saw his great sense of humanity toward both victims and suspects.

Chief Jim McKee taught me there is much more to police work than arrests and convictions. He taught me about the human component in police work. He taught me about people and about compassion.

I remember one instance in particular when I saw and learned about how Jim McKee dealt with a man who had been in an auto accident. This man was involved in a horrible thing, as many accidents are, but he came out of it. He walked out of the accident, but the other person in the other vehicle did not and the other person died. This particular person was actually a suspect, and he could have been charged. The police were looking at and trying to decide whether to charge him. Actually, later on there was a grand jury that was convened. The grand jury had to make a decision whether this person was going to be charged and have to stand trial. Eventually they decided not to charge him, but Jim did not know that at the time. I saw how Jim dealt with this man and showed this man, who was going through great anguish at the time, a man who was really a suspect, and I saw how Jim worked him through this, talked to him and showed great kindness to him. That is how Jim McKee treated everyone, with great kindness and with great compassion, all the time being a professional, all the time doing his job.

It was this compassion that set Jim McKee apart. He cared deeply about people and just knew how to deal with them.
At the end of Chief McKee's distinguished 36-year career in law enforcement, I had the honor of attending his farewell banquet. I was lieutenant governor at the time and was there to pay tribute to the chief on behalf of the entire State of Ohio, and on behalf of Governor, then-Governor George Voinovich. At this reception and this dinner, I was struck by the sheer outpouring of respect and admiration and appreciation for Chief McKee's work and for his selfless contributions to our community. It was clear at this reception how important Chief McKee was to the people, to the village of Yellow Springs, and to the entire law enforcement community across the State of Ohio. I was proud to be part of this memorable event.

Following his retirement from the force in 1993, Chief McKee remained active in the community until the day he died. He was a key member of the Yellow Springs Men's Group, an organization dedicated to studying issues important to the day-to-day lives of Yellow Springs residents. Through this organization, the James A. McKee scholarship fund was established in 2002 as a tribute both to Jim and to his legacy of community involvement.

In the recent days following Jim's death, a number of newspapers ran articles about his life and his legacy. As I read through these tributes, I was especially taken with a statement from my friend, Paul Ford, who had known Chief McKee since 1949. This is what Mr. Ford said:

We've lost a good citizen, a good friend, and a humanitarian. Once you met Jim, you were a friend.

Indeed, Jim McKee was my friend and someone for whom I had great affection and admiration. This quote really gets to why Chief McKee was so special to the community of Yellow Springs and to all of us who knew him. He dedicated his life to serving the people of Yellow Springs. He worked to keep his community safe and free from crime.

When I think about Jim McKee and his life's work as a police officer, protector of the community, I am reminded of a Bible passage from Matthew: Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called the children of God.

Indeed, Chief Jim McKee was a peacemaker and a protector and just a good and decent hard-working man. He was a kind person, a kind human being who always tried to do the right thing for his family, for his community, and for his Nation.

My wife Fran and I extend our heartfelt sympathy and our prayers for the entire McKee family, for his wife of 54 years, Naomi; his four daughters, Bari McKee-Teamor, Karen McKee, Jean McKee, Sandra McKee-Smith; his son, Jimmy, his five grandchildren, and one great grandson. Jim McKee loved his family. He cared deeply for them. I know they, like all of us, will miss him tremendously.

Thank you, Jim, for all you did for Yellow Springs and for our Nation. You will be remembered always in our minds and in our hearts.

I yield the floor.