[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 53 (Tuesday, April 29, 1997)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E770]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  TRIBUTE TO REVEREND EUGENE RAWLINGS

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. DANNY K. DAVIS

                              of illinois

                    in the house of representatives

                        Tuesday, April 29, 1997

  Mr. DAVIS of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, Members of the U.S. House of 
Representatives, I take this opportunity to comment upon the life and 
the work of the late Rev. Eugene Rawlings, who passed away on Tuesday, 
April 1, 1997.
  Reverend Rawlings was born February 17, 1906, and spent his early 
years in Lucy, TN, where he attended school and received his early 
religious training. He graduated from the SA Owens College in Memphis, 
TN, and received an associate of arts degree in religious education 
from the McKinley Theological Seminary in Jackson, MS. In 1931, he 
married Ms. Caldonia Stevens and they have one daughter, Eugenia.
  In 1954, Reverend Rawlings migrated to Chicago, IL, where he spent 
the rest of his life organizing churches, pastoring, teaching, and 
being a community activist. He was an outstanding lecturer and orator, 
as he taught at the Chicago Baptist Institute, the Ministers Union of 
Chicago and vicinity, the Westside Ministers Conference, and Bethany 
Hospital.
  Reverend Rawlings was a great civic, social, and political activist, 
as evidenced by his position as a Master Mason, organizer for the 
Westside waste management environment safety project, Block Club 
treasurer, and planning committee for the Community Bank of Lawndale.
  Rev. Eugene Rawlings was certainly an outstanding clergyman, civic 
leader, and humanitarian. We wish his wife Odessa, daughters Evangelist 
Eugenia Thomas, Pat Merriweather, and Francis Morris and other members 
of the family all the best, as they revere the life of this great 
American.

                          ____________________