Officer Tommy Decker Memorial Post Office

Floor Speech

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Mrs. BACHMANN. Mr. Speaker, it is with great pride and also a great deal of emotion that I stand here today as the representative of the citizens of Cold Spring. In particular, we are here to honor the memory of the fallen, and that is Officer Tommy Decker.

On November 29, 2012, Cold Spring, Minnesota, Police Officer Tommy Decker was tragically killed in the line of duty. He is survived by his wife, Alicia, a wonderful woman who loved him dearly and whom Tommy dearly loved; his four young children, beautiful children, Kelly, Jade, Justin, and Devon; his parents, John and Rosella, pillars in the community of Cold Spring, who did a wonderful job raising their son and who Tommy's mother spoke to just briefly before he went on call for his final end of watch; and his siblings, his colleagues, and the community who dearly loved Tommy Decker.

Before his final act of service to the community that he loved, Tommy served the communities of Isle, Watkins, Kimball, and the Cold Spring/Richmond Police Department. He received several commendations and letters of appreciation for his exemplary work.

How he died is testament to how much Tommy Decker loved his hometown of Cold Spring and the kind of man of character that Tommy Decker was. For a decade, he bravely stood watch. He protected the citizens of central Minnesota with both diligence and a sense of respect.

The overwhelming outpouring of love and support, not only from the Cold Spring community but all Minnesotans in the wake of this unspeakable tragedy, speaks to the impact that Tommy had on countless lives.

While there are no words that could ever properly honor him, renaming his hometown post office in his memory so that his children, his parents, his wife, his siblings, his colleagues can all point to this memorial with pride and say to their friends, my father, our son, my husband, our brother, our citizen was a hero in our community--he sacrificially gave of his life to our community--therefore, Mr. Speaker, is a fitting tribute to a life well lived and to a man greatly missed.

As the Holy Scriptures teach us, Mr. Speaker, greater love hath no man than this, but that he laid down his life for his friends. Surely, this is what Tommy Decker did for the citizens of Cold Spring.

I join the entire Minnesota House delegation in urging our colleagues to support H.R. 43, to rename the post office in Cold Spring, Minnesota, in honor of him the Officer Tommy Decker Memorial Post Office.

Though Tommy is no longer with us, his legacy and example of courage and compassion lives on.

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