[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 102 (Wednesday, July 21, 2004)]
[House]
[Pages H6500-H6502]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
HIPOLITO F. GARCIA FEDERAL BUILDING AND UNITED STATES COURTHOUSE
Mr. LaTOURETTE. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the
bill (H.R. 3884) to designate the Federal building and United States
courthouse located at 615 East Houston Street in San Antonio, Texas, as
the ``Hipolito F. Garcia Federal Building and United States
Courthouse''.
The Clerk read as follows:
H.R. 3884
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of
the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. DESIGNATION.
The Federal building and United States courthouse located
at 615 East Houston Street in San Antonio, Texas, shall be
known and designated as the ``Hipolito F. Garcia Federal
Building and United States Courthouse''.
SEC. 2. REFERENCES.
Any reference in a law, map, regulation, document, paper,
or other record of the United States to the Federal building
and United States courthouse referred to in section 1 shall
be deemed to be a reference to the ``Hipolito F. Garcia
Federal Building and United States Courthouse''.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from
Ohio (Mr. LaTourette) and the gentlewoman from the District of Columbia
(Ms. Norton) each will control 20 minutes.
The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. LaTourette).
Mr. LaTOURETTE. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may
consume.
Mr. Speaker, H.R. 3884, introduced by the gentleman from Texas (Mr.
Gonzalez), designates the Federal Building and United States Courthouse
located at 615 East Houston Street, San Antonio, Texas, as the Hipolito
F. Garcia Federal Building and United States Courthouse.
Judge Garcia was born in San Antonio, Texas, on December 4, 1925, and
grew up in a neighborhood a few blocks from the very courthouse that
will now bear his name. After serving his country in the Army from 1943
to 1945, Judge Garcia attended St. Mary's University School of Law. He
graduated in 1951 and began working for Bexar County, Texas, as the
Assistant Criminal Attorney, a position he held until 1963.
After a short time practicing law privately, Judge Garcia served as
Judge to the county court in 1964 and State district court until 1974.
Judge Garcia's career culminated in 1981 when President Carter
appointed him to the United States District Court for the Western
District of Texas. He sadly passed away on January 16, 2002.
Judge Garcia is remembered as a man who treated everyone with respect
and remained humble despite his high position. He served his country in
arms and in justice, and he was the first Mexican American to serve as
a United States District Judge in the Western District of Texas.
This is a fitting tribute to a dedicated public servant. I support
this legislation and urge my colleagues to do the same.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Ms. NORTON. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, H.R. 3884 is a bill to designate the Federal Building
and United States Courthouse located at 615 East Houston Street, San
Antonio, Texas, as the Hipolito F. Garcia Federal Building and United
States Courthouse.
The bill was introduced by the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Gonzalez).
Judge Garcia was born on December 14, 1925, in San Antonio. He recently
died in January, 2002. He was educated at public schools, and in 1951
received his law degree from St. Mary's University School of Law.
During World War II, he served in the United States Army.
His professional career included being Deputy District Clerk for
Bexar County, Assistant Criminal Attorney, and Judge for the County-
Court-at-Law. In 1979, President Carter nominated him for the Federal
bench, and he was confirmed by the Senate in 1980.
Judge Garcia was an inspiration and role model. He broke barriers and
earned a place in history as the first Mexican American to serve as a
United States District Court Judge in the Western District of Texas.
Despite his status, he remained humble and was known for treating
everyone with dignity and respect.
He was an outstanding public servant who mentored young lawyers,
providing sage advice and counsel. Judge Garcia was an exemplary public
servant, and this dedication honors his contributions to the citizens
of San Antonio and Texas.
I support H.R. 3884 and strongly urge its passage.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. LaTOURETTE. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Ms. NORTON. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the
gentleman from Texas (Mr. Gonzalez), the author of the bill.
Mr. GONZALEZ. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Alaska
(Chairman Young), the ranking member, the gentleman from Minnesota (Mr.
Oberstar), the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. LaTourette), and the
gentlewoman from the District of Columbia (Ms. Norton) for bringing
this bill to the floor.
I could go over all of Hippo's accomplishments, and I say ``Hippo''
with the greatest affection and respect. Few people ever referred to
him by formal title because he would not have it. And if he were alive
and we were honoring him in this fashion today, he would probably be a
little humbled and embarrassed.
[[Page H6501]]
Mr. Speaker, I will keep my remarks brief, but a man of the caliber
and decency of Hippo Garcia deserves a couple of minutes to recognize
his true contribution. Members have heard of his professional
accomplishments, his sacrifices and contributions to the legal
profession, to the city and the State and to this country, but I would
like to bring out the human side of Hippo, that he was probably one of
the most decent human beings one could ever meet.
He was a mentor and second father to many young San Antonio lawyers.
I had the privilege of practicing before him when he was a county court
law judge, a State district court judge, and then he moved to the
Federal level. Many of us sought counsel with Hippo, a brave and wise
man. We all had our first trials in Hippo's court. My first nonjury
trial, which I lost, my first jury trial, which I also lost, come to
think of it; but somehow it was a learning experience for everyone.
In the era of determinative sentences, mandatory guidelines, Hippo
was an individual that still had a great deal of compassion and
understanding and exercised that kind of discretion in such a
responsible manner to make all of us proud.
Many people say the last thing we want is a liberal activist judge. I
am here to tell Members that Hippo Garcia was a liberal activist judge.
And what I mean by that is, his rulings always exhibited a liberal dose
of humanity and decency and compassion. He was an activist, no doubt,
and that activism was in the pursuit of justice.
Mr. Speaker, I wish to thank everyone who made this possible. Of
course, the building we are naming is right across from the Alamo,
which is a fitting location, so that everyone that passes by there will
always remember the great sacrifices of the defenders of the Alamo, and
look up and see Hippo's name on the Federal Building and remember the
great contributions of a great man by the name of Hipolito Garcia.
Ms. NORTON. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the
gentleman from Texas (Mr. Rodriguez).
Mr. RODRIGUEZ. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 3884
which would name the San Antonio Federal Courthouse after the Honorable
Hipolito F. Garcia, better known to San Antonians as Hippo Garcia.
He was a native of San Antonio, and entered high school unable to
speak English. Through hard work and determination, he became the first
Mexican American to be named a Federal judge for the Western District.
After graduating from high school, he served in the Army and on his
return to civilian life, he earned a law degree.
With his diploma in hand, he launched his career as assistant
district attorney. Years later, Judge Garcia was recognized by
President Carter who nominated him to the Federal bench in 1980.
Following his confirmation by the United States Senate, he served as a
U.S. District Judge for the Western District.
Judge Garcia, better known as Hippo Garcia, dedicated more than 50
years of his life pursuing the cause of justice and inspired many
people along his path. Over the course of his extraordinary life, Judge
Garcia blazed new trails for Americans of Hispanic descent and brought
incomparable integrity, fairness and intelligence to his courtroom. He
is a highly respected jurist who has earned this permanent honor.
I encourage my colleagues to support this legislation as we
commemorate his achievements, Judge Hippo Garcia.
Mr. OBERSTAR. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 3884, a bill to
designate the federal building and United States Courthouse located at
615 East Houston St., San Antonio Texas as the Hipolito F. Garcia
Federal Building and United States Courthouse.
Hipolito Garcia was a native Texan, born in San Antonio in 1925.
Judge Garcia received his law degree from St. Mary's University School
of Law in 1951. He was nominated by President Carter to the federal
bench in 1979 and was confirmed by the U.S. Senate in 1980. Judge
Garcia was the first Hispanic judge for the Western District of Texas
where he served with distinction for over two decades.
Hipolito Garcia was renowned for his fairness, professionalism, and
his commitment to public service. He was part of the ``Greatest
Generation'', serving in the Army during World War II. Prior to his
appointment to the federal bench, Judge Garcia worked as an assistant
district attorney and as a county court-at-law judge. Throughout his
accomplished career, he remained humble and proud of his San Antonio
roots.
I thank Congressman Gonzalez for introducing this legislation. It is
a fitting tribute to an outstanding jurist and public servant. I
support the bill and urge its passage.
Mr. SMITH of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I am happy to cosponsor with
Representative Gonzalez legislation that designates the Federal
building and courthouse located in downtown San Antonio, Texas, as the
``Hipolito F. Garcia Federal Building and United States Courthouse''.
Judge Hipolito Garcia--known to his friends as ``Hippo''--led an
amazing life and career. He was born to immigrant parents in downtown
San Antonio, just two blocks from the United States Courthouse where he
served as a United States District Judge for over 20 years.
Despite the challenges of learning English, and of being one of the
few Hispanic students at his high school, he excelled and graduated as
the most popular member of his class.
Judge Garcia served our nation in the U.S. Army in World War II. He
went on to receive a law degree from St. Mary's University and then
became a respected member of the San Antonio legal community.
After serving as a County Court-at-Law judge, and then as a State
District Court judge in Bexar County, Judge Garcia was appointed a
federal judge in the Western District of Texas. He served on that bench
more than twenty years.
In addition to his professional accomplishments, Hippo Garcia was a
light in our community. He befriended many young attorneys, sharing his
time, his knowledge, and his innumerable stories.
Judge Garcia loved the law and our hometown of San Antonio. It is
fitting that we should name the federal courthouse in his honor.
I hope my colleagues will join me in support of this legislation.
If my colleagues or constituents want to know more about this
remarkable man, I've made a part of the record a eulogy given by a good
friend, James R. Nowlin, a federal judge now on senior status. It does
strike me that while Judge Nowlin was in good company with Judge
Garcia, the reverse was true as well.
[January 19, 2002]
MEMORIAL, JUDGE H.F. ``HIPPO'' GARCIA, FIFTH CIRCUIT JUDICIAL
CONFERENCE, 2002
(By James R. Nowlin)
From the time I was a 24-year-old guy in San Antonio,
Texas, until recent years, whenever I would be driving Judge
Garcia to a restaurant, to a meeting, to the courthouse--
whenever we crossed a street or walked a slippery sidewalk,
his favorite expression was always: ``Careful what you do.''
I know that he is looking over my shoulder now with that same
direction. Hippo, I will be careful, but I will not hide the
bright light you brought to this world. As you often said to
me after a fine meal and a few glasses of wine:
``My candle burns at both ends;
It will not last the night;
But ah, my foes, and oh, my friends--
It gives such a lovely light''
I will not burden you with many of the biographical details
we can all find in Justices and Judges of the United States
Courts. Let me rather attempt to briefly share with you some
of that lovely light.
A 17th century French writer proclaimed: ``As uncommon a
thing as true love is, it is yet easier to find than true
friendship.'' For more than 35 years I was blessed with that
uncommon thing--a true friendship with the kindest, most
generous, most humorous, most gentle, most practically
intelligent person I have ever met. His name: Hipolito Frank
Garcia, short in stature, respectable in girth, but with a
heart larger than the earth itself. Common as the surname
``Garcia'' is in San Antonio and South Texas, this ``Garcia''
was no ordinary man. He was one of a kind.
Hippo was born on December 4, 1925, of immigrant parents in
a small home just two blocks from the United States
Courthouse where he served as an active United States
District Judge for just short of 22 years. He spoke little
English prior to entering a high school in San Antonio
where he was about the only Hispanic student. His low key
drive to compete, excel, and make friends endeared him to
his fellow students who, unable to pronounce his given
name ``Hipolito'' simply called him ``Hippo.'' The young,
bashful, non-English speaking student who entered
Brackenridge High School in 1939 graduated as the most
popular member of his class, served with distinction with
the Third Armored Division, United States Army in Germany
during World War II, and received a law degree from St.
Mary's University School of Law. His college and law
school career was thanks to the GI Bill and his work as a
janitor at the law school after hours. In addition to his
love of and respect for the law, he loved to read
Shakespeare, became a recognized scholar of the American
Civil War
[[Page H6502]]
and read every biography of Abraham Lincoln ever written.
Not bad for a once skinny, non-English speaking kid from
San Antonio, Texas.
Hippo was continually fascinated with the English language
and in our hundreds of lunches and dinners over the past 35
years regaled me with stories of San Antonio's social and
political past. As a young, green lawyer I was not only
enthralled with his stories and his jokes but I found it
amazing that a county judge would spend time with me. There
were over the year's dozens of young men and women who had
the same experiences with ``The Judge'' and felt equally
honored.
He told me of his ancestors and their fight for
independence in Mexico; of his relatives who were associated
with Pancho Villa; of what it was like to grow up in San
Antonio as a Mexican-American child not speaking English; of
landmarks in the City of San Antonio that I had not noticed
or simply forgotten; of being beaten up by a group of thugs
when he was working a polling place for Henry B. Gonzalez, in
his early efforts as the first Hispanic political leader in
San Antonio to win important elective public office; and of
his Spanish speaking mother's reaction when he tried to
explain to her that he had just become a county court-at-law
judge: ``How many times have I told you, I don't want you
to be no policeman!''
For some reason, I distinctly recall a story about a small
theater in downtown San Antonio where Hippo, as a child would
go on Saturdays not only for entertainment but to try and
learn English--I think it was known as the State Theater.
That was only when he had the dime required for the ticket.
He told me about a stage show at that theater that occurred
every Saturday. He watched in awe as several dancers did a
vaudeville routine with brooms and sang ``sweep, sweep, sweep
the cobwebs off the moon.'' Those musical English words
intrigued him and stayed with him the rest of his life and
occasionally, after a glass or two of his favorite wine, he
would sing those lyrics to the surprise of his dinner
companions.
I and many other more important people were beneficiaries
of his constant effort to help young lawyers begin the
practice of law. He was the founding father of the ``Hippos
Baseball Team'' whose benched players include judges
(including our own Ed Prado and John Primomo), congressmen
and successful businessmen. His patience, his fairness, his
teaching by example, his unmatched generosity was not limited
to lawyers. Over the years I witnessed first-hand his
financial gifts (which he fictionally called ``loans'') to
young men and women who needed help to pay tuition or to
provide the necessities of life in order to go to school or
stay in school. He would seldom speak about these things but
would rather joke that, human nature being what it is, some
of those beneficiaries of his generosity would probably run
against him some day. It never happened.
If there is a good restaurant in San Antonio that Hippo did
not frequent I am not aware of it. The measure of a good
restaurant: superior food and plentiful white wine. As one
restaurant owner told me: ``Hippo loves to eat more than
anyone I've ever known.'' Menus at the Judge's favorite
restaurants are replete with dishes named after him. From
``Hippo's Meat Loaf'' to Tex-Mex dishes to lavish desserts,
he left his mark on the bills of fare. Perhaps the place of
greatest enjoyment for him was a restaurant at which a well-
known local jazz band played. ``Hippo's Song,'' the jazz
rendition of his favorite hymn, ``Just A Closer Walk With
Thee,'' was announced and played at least once each night.
As requested by Judge Hippo, a member of that jazz band
played a solo rendition of the hymn at his funeral.
Hippo's secret weapon for most all of his success and
scores of friendships I concluded was his unique ability to
listen, to sympathize and associate himself with another's
problems and challenges. Then he would tell a funny story.
From what I know, he would not have succeeded in the
priesthood but he would have been one Hell of a bartender!
In the early hours of the morning of January16, 2002, Hippo
Garcia, a fine judge but more importantly, a great human
being, without any doubt joined the Saint for whom he was
named and all the saints in Heaven. His favorite restaurants
and the wineries of the world will now need their own
economic stimulus package. For his immediate family, his
dozens of godchildren, his legions of fiends, and those many
who, but for Hippo, might have stumbled and failed in life,
there is a tremendous sense of loss and a painful void. I
feel it every day.
Never fear--in the words of ``Hippo's Song'' he has been
``gently, safely guided to Thy kingdom shore'' and is ``ever
walking close to Thee.'' There is a table set in Heaven with
several empty chairs, plates of meatloaf, mashed potatoes
with real butter, and full glasses of Chablis. He's saving a
place for us: but when you pull out the chair and prepare to
sit, remember ``careful what you do.'' In the meantime, I
look up and I think I can almost see a great judge, the
funniest man on earth, my best friend ``sweep, sweep,
sweeping the cobwebs off the moon.''
In June 1996, in recognition of his leadership and
``invaluable public service to his state and nation'' then
Governor George W. Bush signed a Proclamation allowing Judge
Garcia to be buried in the Texas State Cemetery at Austin,
Texas. He lies thirty feet from Stephen F. Austin at the top
of Republic Hill, the first Mexican-American to be buried in
this historic section of the Cemetery.
``Green be the turf above thee,
Friend of my better days!
None knew thee but to love thee,
Nor named thee but in praise.''
May he rest in peace.
Ms. NORTON. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
Mr. LaTOURETTE. Mr. Speaker, I urge passage of the bill, and I yield
back the balance of my time.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the
gentleman from Ohio (Mr. LaTourette) that the House suspend the rules
and pass the bill, H.R. 3884.
The question was taken; and (two-thirds having voted in favor
thereof) the rules were suspended and the bill was passed.
A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.
____________________