[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 74 (Tuesday, June 7, 2005)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1145]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 TRIBUTE TO THE LATE MS. THELMA STINSON, PRINCIPAL OF LILLIE C. EVANS 
                           ELEMENTARY SCHOOL

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. KENDRICK B. MEEK

                               of florida

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, June 7, 2005

  Mr. MEEK of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I rise to pay tribute to a truly 
great role model and a truly great educator--the late Ms. Thelma 
Stinson, former Principal of the Lillie C. Evans Elementary School 
located in Miami's Liberty City community in my Congressional District.
  Her passing away provides us with the sobering thought of the dignity 
of the human spirit and the fragility of life. Even though she was sick 
with cancer, Ms. Stinson often went straight from the hospital to her 
school because she felt so deeply about helping her students. By every 
measure, she was enormously successful.
  Ms. Stinson started working for the Dade County School Board in 1968 
as a librarian, then as a special-education teacher and assistant 
principal before becoming Principal of Lillie C. Evans in late 2000.
  Under her leadership at Lillie C. Evans, the school proudly rose from 
an F-graded school in 2001-2002 to an A-graded school in 2003-2004. 
``The school's turnaround is a testament to her leadership and her 
commitment,'' said district spokesman Joseph Garcia. Ms. Stinson also 
reached out to the community by ensuring that parents were also 
schooled in the basic skills of reading, math and the sciences through 
regular sessions at night. Simply put, Ms. Stinson literally bridged 
the gap between her school and her students' homes, making parental 
involvement an essential part of the teaching and learning process.
  In spite of the odds, Ms. Stinson truly demonstrated to all those 
called upon by public service that excellence and achievement are never 
beyond the reach of those willing to make the commitment and dare to 
dream what seems to most people to be the impossible. She was a source 
of light--more like a beacon in the night--in our community and in the 
lives of student and adults alike. It is impossible to measure the 
impact of a person like Ms. Stinson, for her legacy will live on in all 
the young lives she touched, for whom she created new possibilities and 
new opportunities that, without her special touch, would never had 
existed.
  It is sadly inadequate to say that she will be sorely missed. I 
extend my deepest condolences to her mother Ceola Thompson, brother 
Errol Thompson, sister Esther Blackshear, daughter Twyla Hilton, her 
grandsons, her friends and her students.

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