[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 27 (Friday, February 10, 1995)]
[House]
[Pages H1599-H1600]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        A TRIBUTE TO ORNA SIEGEL

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from California [Mr. Tucker] is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. TUCKER. Mr. Speaker, in the past I have stood on the floor of 
this Chamber to pontificate on matters of local, State, and national 
importance. In the future, I will stand in this well and articulate the 
concerns of those in need of a voice to speak for them.
  But today, Mr. Speaker, I rise for a different reason. I rise to pay 
tribute to a very special woman. A woman of substance, style, grace, 
and an inner beauty that would pale the brightest star. A committed 
leader in the struggle to enhance the pro-Israel cause; a heroine who 
speaks out while others remain silent; a wife to the man she calls her 
prince; a wonderful mother to her daughter Shana and her son Jonathan; 
a friend to those in need of friendship; she is my friend, the ``red-
hair,'' Orna Siegel.
  Mr. Speaker, Orna Siegel was born Orna Tieb in Tunisia. She is the 
seventh of eight children that moved to a small town in Israel when she 
was four. At the age of 18 she served her country as a member of the 
Israeli Defense Forces as a sergeant in its' Air Force. She was 
educated at the Seminar Hakibutzim in Tel Aviv, Israel. There at the 
university she met her prince charming, American businessman, Saul 
Siegel. Cupid's arrow hit its' mark and Saul proposed to the lovely red 
head on the very day the couple met.
  A true servant to her homeland, Orna founded the Summit Club, an 
Israeli-American leadership organization. She was the chairwoman of the 
annual fundraising gala dinner for the Friends 
[[Page H1600]] of the Israel Defense Forces, a support group for the 
Israeli counterpart to the USO. You can find the spirited red-head 
giving her time to the Jewish national fund as a hostess and 
fundraiser; the Jewish institute for National Security Affairs as a 
member and a participant in its national meetings; she is a member of 
the national executive committee, the Capitol Club and a local officer 
of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee [AIPAC], a pro-Israel 
lobby here in our Nation's Capitol. Orna is also a volunteer 
fundraiser, as well as, the chairwoman of government relations for Yad 
B'Yad, which means hand in hand, a human life saving fund that takes 
sick people from Israel to wherever in the world they can get the life 
saving medical attention they need. At a recent Yad B'Yad fundraising 
dinner for which Orna was the primary organizer, an eleven year old boy 
made a speech. He told how a bone marrow transplant paid for by Yad 
B'Yad had cured his leukemia--he told how this transplant has saved his 
life.
  Mr. Speaker, all to often I hear people say that they wish that they 
could live a normal life. I have never heard those words uttered by 
Orna Siegel. Because I think more than anyone Orna knows that in this 
life there is no normal or abnormal, there is only life, and that we 
must live our lives to the fullest. More than anyone that I have had 
the opportunity to meet in recent years, Orna Siegel knows that we must 
seize each day and cherish the moments that life has to offer us. That 
we must wake up every morning and face each day unafraid, with a new 
faith--and the hope that somehow we can positively affect the lives of 
those we meet from one day to the next. For life has no meaning except 
for its impact on others. For all of the lives that she has touched, it 
would be hard to imagine a world without the one that so many 
affectionately call the ``red hair.''
  Mr. Speaker, to talk about Orna Siegel is to speak in superlatives. 
She is a woman who has given her heart and soul to the support of her 
homeland and to affecting positive change in the lives of those that 
she meets. Her unwavering leadership and commitment goes well beyond 
the funds that she has raised for the numerous organizations to which 
she belongs. It goes to the very fiber of who she is, what she stands 
for, and the type of leadership she believes is important to 
demonstrate every day, no matter her physical state.
  Mr. Speaker, I am honored to know Orna Siegel, she is a leader, a 
heroine, a wife, a mother, and friend. She is my friend and I am 
honored to pay tribute to her.
                 tribute to gregory chiedozie acholonu
  Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to a man each and every one 
of us can look to as an example of discipline, of strength, of courage, 
of compassion and most importantly as an example of humility.
  Mr. Speaker, I speak of Mr. Gregory Chiedozie Acholonu a native of 
Washington, DC.
  In the world of chess Mr. Speaker, there are few peers to Mr. 
Acholonu. As a young child Greg was introduced to the world of chess by 
a family friend.
  By 1972 Greg was reading Horowitz's chess theory and practice and 
Reti's modern ideas in chess.
  By 1981 with the help of experts like Emory Tate and Stan Fink, Greg 
had achieved the rank of master.
  In December 1992, Greg won the Maryland closed. In early 1993, at the 
age of 33, Greg achieved a rating over 2,400 and became a senior 
master.
  In 1988, Greg was hired part-time by the U.S. Chess Center to, among 
other duties, teach, ``the little players program.''
  With enthusiasm and love for the game Mr. Acholonu's instruction has 
inspired countless numbers of local kids and adults to strive for the 
top.
  In the month of February, when the achievements and contributions of 
Americans of African decent are being highlighted to the world, I take 
pleasure in highlighting Mr. Acholonu's achievements and offer to our 
children and ourselves, a man worthy of emulating.


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