[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 81 (Wednesday, June 5, 1996)]
[House]
[Page H5923]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        TRIBUTE TO RICHARD STULZ

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from California [Mr. Hunter] is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. HUNTER. Mr. Speaker, America is a great country because we are a 
Nation that is filled with great people.
  A wonderful person passed away a couple of days ago, a good friend, 
Dick Stulz, who was one of the border patrol leaders in the San Diego 
area, was a wonderful citizen, a wonderful husband and had a great 
family of children and grandchildren who absolutely adored him.
  Dick Stulz was a guy who believed very strongly in two things: 
securing America's border and taking care of his people.
  Last time I saw him, he had a border patrol agent under his wing as 
one of the union leaders of the border patrol, and he was trying to see 
to it that this gentleman who had been assaulted at his house by 
illegal aliens would get some protection from his government.
  Dick Stulz passed away a couple of days ago and his wife Veronica 
gave me that call about that tragic situation. She was at his side when 
he passed away.

  I thought it would be important to tell my colleagues a few things 
about Dick. He was born in Philadelphia, PA. He was one of those guys 
who joined the Marine Corps in 1952, served with them for 30 years. As 
his duty stations, both at home and abroad, he was instrumental in 
establishing the communications networks that are required to support 
various military activities.
  Furthering his dedication to government service, Dick was a lifetime 
member of the Navy-Marine Corps Military Affiliate Radio System. As 
such, he participated in several recovery missions during man's 
historic decade in space, spanning Apollo missions 7 through 17, where 
he played an integral role in processing and patching both military and 
civilian phone traffic between the recovery ship and various points 
around the globe.

                              {time}  2245

  His work on the Apollo recovery missions earned him lifetime 
membership with the VHF Spacenet.
  In addition to his military service, as I said, he worked for 25 
years with the United States Border Patrol. His job was effectively 
coordinating communications between field stations and agents on patrol 
along our border. And during this time at the Border Patrol Dick became 
highly involved with the National Border Patrol Council Local 1613, 
where he served as first vice president, and it was Dick Stulz who 
interested me in the idea that the Border patrol needed help and that 
the Boarder Patrol represented not just a faceless agency that secured 
America's border, but it represented some of the finest public servants 
in the United States. And it was a result of Dick's work that we 
started a scholarship fund for the children of Border Patrol families, 
and we are going to continue that fund. We are going to call it the 
Dick Stulz Memorial Fund. His wife Veronica, I know, will help us to 
make it work and keep it going.
  And I just wanted to remind my friends also that on a more personal 
level Dick was always mindful of his military brethren and their 
sacrifices, and he actively supported a lot of veterans organizations. 
He had the distinction of being the only non-Hawaiian member of the 
Hawaii VFW Post 9512. He supported Pop Warner leagues around the 
country, and additionally he did just about everything that his 
children and grandchildren asked him to do.

  Dick Stulz was a wonderful American. He is a kind of a person that 
makes this country work and gives us faith in our fellow man. So, Mr. 
Speaker, I know that my colleagues join me in wishing the very best for 
Dick's family in mourning his passing.

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