[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 46 (Friday, March 29, 1996)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E494]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




IN HONOR OF MS. LIDIA GIL-RAMOS FOR DISTINGUISHED AND DEDICATED SERVICE 
             TO THE SENIOR CITIZENS OF NORTH HUDSON COUNTY

                                 ______


                          HON. ROBERT MENENDEZ

                             of new jersey

                    in the house of representatives

                         Friday, March 29, 1996

  Mr. MENENDEZ. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to Ms. Lidia 
Gil-Ramos, an outstanding individual who has distinguished herself by 
her selfless commitment to the senior citizens of Hudson County. Ms. 
Ramos will be honored at the 22d anniversary dinner of Tertulias de 
Antano, a senior citizen recreational program she founded.
  Ms. Ramos emigrated from Cuba and arrived in Union City, NJ in 1965. 
She is a woman who seems to have been born for social work and 
community service. In Cuba, she taught primary school during the day 
and volunteered her nights teaching elderly farm workers who never had 
the opportunity to attend school. Upon receiving her master's degree 
from the University of Havana, she became director of a large nursing 
home in San Miguel de los Banos, Matanzas in central Cuba.
  Once in the United States, she found employment as an income 
maintenance specialist for the Food Stamp Program in Jersey City and 
undertook further training in working with elderly citizens. Her 
service to seniors began in the Cuban refugee program of Union City. 
During her service, she witnessed the dejection and solitude that many 
Cuban seniors experienced in their new surroundings. Determined to 
address and to improve the social environment of the Cuban senior 
community, she founded the Tertulias de Antano recreational program on 
October 13, 1974.
  Ms. Ramos devotes much of her time to coordinating the details of the 
program, which provides seniors with information on health care issues, 
English-language programs, and social events within the community. 
Today, not only do seniors in the Cuban-American community praise the 
program, but so do seniors from other Latin American countries now 
living in Hudson County. All this is due to the vision and enduring 
commitment of one woman dedicated to the overall happiness of the 
senior community.
  Ms. Ramos' commitment to the senior citizens of Hudson County 
exemplifies the true meaning of compassion and community service. For 
her outstanding work and leadership, I ask my colleagues to join me in 
honoring this wonderful individual. I am proud to have such a 
remarkable woman living and working within my district.

                          ____________________