[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 67 (Tuesday, May 11, 1999)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E924]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




             IN MEMORY OF THE LATE DR. FRANCISCO G. TUDELA

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART

                               of florida

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, May 11, 1999

  Mr. DIAZ-BALART. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the memory of a 
friend who recently passed away. Dr. Francisco G. Tudela was a great 
man and a caring physician whose devotion to the sanctity and dignity 
of life will be greatly missed.
  Dr. Tudela was born in Guantanamo, Cuba on July 19, 1919. Despite 
that fact that Dr. Tudela had risen to the position of Director of the 
Guantanamo City Hospital in Cuba, he went into exile because of his 
commitment to Liberty and Freedom. In 1960, Dr. Tudela moved with his 
family to the United States and practiced his speciality of Obstetrics-
Gynecology in Newport News, Virginia before eventually settling in 
Miami, Florida.
  Dr. Tudela was well-known for his opposition to abortion and always 
said that ``Doctors are to save babies, not to kill them.'' He is 
credited with delivering more than 8,000 babies--many of whom owe their 
lives to his medical knowledge and care.
  Dr. Tudela came from a family that has a long history of service to 
mankind. He was the son of the renowned Cuban physician, Dr. Francisco 
J. Tudela who graduated from the University of Chicago School of 
Medicine. He was also the grandson and grand-nephew of two valiant 
Cuban heroes of the Cuban War of Independence, Colonels Jose Enrique 
Tudela and Francisco Jose Tudela.
  Dr. Tudela and his devoted wife, Mrs. Josefa Gonzalez Tudela, loving 
raised their two sons to continue the family commitment to medicine and 
children. Both sons, Dr. Jose Angel Tudela, a pediatrician, and Dr. 
Francisco G. Tudela, Jr., an obstetrician-gynecologist, are outstanding 
physicians in Miami-Dade County.
  I will miss the friendship and wise counsel of Dr. Tudela. He always 
had a kind and encouraging word and I was filled with optimism after 
every opportunity I had to speak with him. I would like to express my 
profound condolences to Mrs. Tudela and her two sons at this difficult 
time.

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