[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 57 (Tuesday, May 6, 1997)]
[House]
[Page H2180]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  1415
     IN MEMORY OF SIXTH GRADE TEACHER NETTIE MESSINGER ON TEACHER 
                            APPRECIATION DAY

  (Mr. RANGEL asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. RANGEL. Mr. Speaker, let me join with my colleagues. I did not 
come to speak on this subject, but just this Friday I attended the 
funeral of a sixth grade teacher that I had. She was more than an 
inspiration to one of the worst kids in the classroom, which was 
Charlie Rangel, but it was fantastic that the more success I received 
politically, the better she thought I was as a student. How quickly 
they forget. I was so blessed to have had her, not only as a sixth 
grade teacher in Nettie Messinger but as someone who counseled me after 
I got out of the service, returned to high school and went on to 
college and law school.
  There were so many, many students that she took this very, very 
personal relationship with. She did not just let you play hookey, she 
had to come by your house to let your parents know that you missed 
school.
  On behalf of all of the students from old PS 89, some that get on TV 
and many others that do not, let me thank the teachers that follow the 
high tradition of real teaching as Mrs. Nettie Messinger did and join 
my colleagues in thanking all of our teachers, especially those in the 
public school system.

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