Date: 1993-05-04
Speaker: DE LUGO (democrat)
Chamber: H

Mr. Speaker. I wish to thank my good friend and chairman. the gentleman from Ohio . and the ranking member. the gentleman from Tennessee . for their leadership and help in bringing this bill through the committee process and to the floor tbday. Mr. Speaker. ours is a Nation of laws. institutions. and people. The success of our Nation is largely predicated on a strong legal institution that is consistently and fairly administered by enlightened people. Once in a great while there are people. though few in number. who achieve such stature that they come to personify our institutions. In the Virgin Islands. one of those exceptional individuals is Almeric Leander Christian. the senior sitting judge of the territorial court and the former chief judge of the U.S. district Court of the Virgin Islands. My bill. H.R. 1346. would designate the Federal building in St.. Croix the Almeric L. Christian Federal Building. Almeric was born on November 23. 1919 to Elena L. (Davis) Christian and Adam E. Christian. .Almeric grew up in Christiansted. attending grammar. junior high and high school there before moving onto the University of Puerto Rico at Rio Piedras and then Columbia College in New York City. He entered Columbia Law School. served in the U.S. Army In World War II. and then returned to Columbia Law to graduate. After law school Almeric returned to his native Virgin Islands where he entered private practice. In 1962. President Kennedy appointed Almeria to be the Virgin Islands U.S. attorney. The following year he married Shirley Frorup of Christiansted. They had two children. Adam Gregory. now an attorney. and Rebecca Therese. who lives and works in North Carolina. By a previous marriage Judge Christian has an older daughter. Donna Christian Green. who today is a distinguished physician and assistant commissioner of health in St. Croix. In 1968 President Johnson reappointed Almeric Christian U.S. attorney. a position he held until 1969 when President Nixon appointed him judge of the district court of the Virgin Islands. the first native born Federal judge in the Virgin Islands. In 1970. he was appointed chief judge. As a jurist. Almeric Christian earned the enormous respect of both the legal community and the community as a whole. Greatly admired for his close study of each case that came before him. no lawyer dared enter his courtroom unprepared. In the courtroom Judge Christian was known for his astute and penetrating questions that cut to the quick of an argument. No one worked harder at the district court than Almeric Christian. Failing eyesight forced him in 1986 to take senior status and he retired from the bench in 1988. Without question Almeric Christian is the Virgin Islands most experienced. most revered. and most celebrated jurist. He has devoted more than 45 years of his life to the legal profession and given more than 20 years to the bench. He has dedicated his entire professional career to the law and to ensuring that his community serves it and is served by it. Mr. Speaker. it is with great pride that I ask my colleagues to join me in honoring this great jurist. Almeric Leander Christian. by voting in favor of my legislation to name the Federal building near his birthplace. Christiansted. St. Crox. for this outstanding Virgin Islander and man of the law. r0 1420