congressional_record: CREC-1998-12-18-pt1-PgE2344
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| granule_id | date | congress | session | volume | issue | title | chamber | granule_class | sub_granule_class | page_start | page_end | speakers | bills | citation | full_text |
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| CREC-1998-12-18-pt1-PgE2344 | 1998-12-18 | 105 | 2 | TRIBUTE TO JOSEPH A. McALEER, SR. | HOUSE | EXTENSIONS | TRIBUTETO | E2344 | E2344 | [{"name": "Sonny Callahan", "role": "speaking"}] | 144 Cong. Rec. E2344 | Congressional Record, Volume 144 Issue 154 (Friday, December 18, 1998) [Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 154 (Friday, December 18, 1998)] [Extensions of Remarks] [Page E2344] From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov] TRIBUTE TO JOSEPH A. McALEER, SR. ______ HON. SONNY CALLAHAN of alabama in the house of representatives Friday, December 18, 1998 Mr. CALLAHAN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to a Mobile legend, the late Joseph A. McAleer, Sr., who recently passed away following a lifetime of good deeds and noteworthy successes. With your permission, I would like to enter into the Congressional Record an editorial tribute which appeared in the Mobile Register. It is entitled ``One man's sweetest legacy'': Sweet-toothed Americans from Mobile to Manhattan can thank the late Joseph A. McAleer, Sr. for not giving up on his dreams. Instead, his legacy--the Krispy Kreme doughnut--is now a Southern tradition that ranks with other cultural icons such as iced tea and men's seersucker suits. Mobile can proudly claim Krispy Kreme doughnuts as a hometown original, thanks to Mr. McAleer, who died Sunday at the age of 74 after battling lung cancer. His family members were by his side. He was buried Tuesday. It was appropriate to pay homage to him and reflect on the sweet legacy he leaves. In 1953, Mr. McAleer opened his first Krispy Kreme doughnut franchise in Prichard, after working for Krispy Kreme's founder, Vernon Rudolph, in Pensacola. The first store failed and three and a half years later Mr. McAleer was broke. But in 1956, he changed locations, opening a store on what is now Dauphin Island Parkway. In what was a sign of things to come, business was so good from day one that lines snaked out of the store. A tradition was born. Today, those same kinds of lines are found at stores all over--particularly when Krispy Kremes are hot off the conveyer belt that moves them along as they are frosted and prepared for customers. Nowhere are Krispy Kremes more prominent than in the chic Chelsea area of Manhattan, the home of some of America's most rich and famous doughnut lovers. New York Yankees owner Georges Steinbrenner is a customer. So is actress Lauren Bacall and the flamboyant talk-show host known as RuPaul. Mr. McAleer led a group of franchise owners to buy Krispy Kreme from Beatrice Food Co. in 1982, and in the late 1980s the business began an aggressive expansion and remodeling program that transformed it from a regional icon to an emerging national chain. His sons now operate the company from corporate headquarters in Winston Salem, North Carolina, although Krispy Kreme remains an intractable part of Mobile's culture. Indeed it's said that when mourners visited the funeral home this week to pay their respects, they were served--what else?--Krispy Kreme doughnuts. Stories like this will only enhance Mr. McAleer's sweet legacy for years to come. ____________________ |