Jim McNeal

Mr. Speaker:

With great sadness I rise to mourn the passing of Jim McNeal, a California business and civic leader, who for decades guided one of the largest and oldest independent ambulance services in California, Shaefer Ambulance.

His work ethic was legendary. At the age of 83, he was still running this family business. For all those years, he struggled with the challenges of competing against his own tax dollars, in a highly regulated environment, facing – and fighting -- governmental double-standards at every turn.

I know all about that, because I'd get an earful from him every month or two.

Jim McNeal was a patriot who served in the Korean War, and believed in freedom as a gospel that he preached everywhere he went.

During his marriage of 53 years, he and his wife Louella raised three children and had six grandchildren. Their family's grief today is shared by all who knew him. Our country has lost an exemplary citizen and his family, a devoted patriarch.