[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 23 (Monday, February 6, 1995)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E275]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


               A TRIBUTE TO F.F. ``PANCHO'' MEDRANO, JR.

                                 ______


                            HON. JOHN BRYANT

                                of texas

                    in the house of representatives

                        Monday, February 6, 1995
  Mr. BRYANT of Texas. Mr. Speaker, Texas lost a leading citizen and 
active advocate for the working people of Texas with the sudden death 
on January 18, 1995, of F.F. ``Pancho'' Medrano, Jr.
  A member of a politically active family committed to advancing the 
cause of organized labor and the election of progressive Democratic 
candidates, Pancho Medrano, Jr., has left an important legacy of 
community participation.
  Pancho Medrano, Jr., was devoted to his family, his community, the 
well-being of the working men and women he so ably represented, and 
improvement of society through the electoral process.
  His unexpected death at the age of 53 deprived Dallas, TX, and the 
Nation of an important and influential voice.
  For 28 years--more than half his all too brief life--Pancho Medrano, 
Jr., was an aerospace employee of Vought Aircraft Corp. in Grand 
Prairie.
  He was an effective leader of the organized labor movement in Texas, 
serving as vice president of the United Auto Workers Local 848 and 
chairman of its political action committee.
  Following in the footsteps of his father and namesake, Pancho 
Medrano, Jr., made politics and the labor movement part of his extended 
family.
  As Dallas County Democratic Party chairman Ken Molberg noted, ``For 
years, Pancho promoted the policies, platform, and candidates of this 
great party with a passionate activism that is unique in our times * * 
*. He gave his all.''
  That commitment and involvement ran deep in the Medrano family--his 
father, Pancho Medrano, Sr.; his brothers, Robert, Ricardo, and Rolando 
Medrano; his sister Pauline; his wife, Socorro Medrano; his sons, Adam 
and Frank Medrano III; his daughters, Virginia Coronado and Mia 
Medrano; and his four grandchildren.
  Mike Hall, president of Pancho Medrano, Jr.'s UAW Local accurately 
described him: ``Pancho was the kind of person who never met a 
stranger. He was always on the campaign trail for someone. He was a 
friend of the Kennedys in the 1960's and a personal friend of Bill 
Clinton today.''
  Whether they were Presidents or union members or a neighbor down the 
street, Pancho Medrano was a good and loyal friend, who will be missed 
from the White House to the houses of those of us who lived and worked 
with him.


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