[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 43 (Thursday, April 6, 2006)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E532-E533]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




        IN HONOR AND REMEMBRANCE OF REVEREND RALPH EMERSON LEACH

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. DENNIS J. KUCINICH

                                of ohio

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, April 5, 2006

  Mr. KUCINICH. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in honor and recognition of 
Reverend Ralph Emerson Leach, devoted husband, father, grandfather, 
United States Veteran, prolific journalist, spiritual leader, social 
activist, and friend and mentor to countless people, across the 
southwest and far beyond.
  Reverend Leach was born and raised in Massachusetts. He attended the 
University of Texas School of Journalism until WWII interrupted his 
studies. In 1943, he joined the U.S. Army and was stationed in the 
Yunnan Province of China. After 3 years of decorated service, he was 
honorably discharged. In 1947, Reverend Leach and his wife, Gloria, 
were married. He began his editorial and reporting career, working at a 
series of newspapers throughout Texas and Arkansas. As News Editor of 
the Arkansas Gazette in the mid-50s, Reverend Leach was a frontrunner 
in exposing the injustice of racism by working on a series of articles 
that highlighted the historic Central High School integration crisis. 
The Gazette was later awarded the Pulitzer Prize for its coverage of 
this benchmark event in the civil rights movement.
  Personally moved by the racial intolerance that he witnessed overseas 
and at home, Reverend Leach ended his career in journalism and began 
building a spiritual ministry that existed to raise the poor and 
struggling out of the shadows of poverty and hopelessness, and to free 
the soul of our Nation from the chains of human injustice. He graduated 
with a Master of Divinity degree from the Episcopal Seminary of the 
Southwest, was ordained into the Episcopal ministry, and became firmly 
entrenched in the civil rights movement. Reverend Leach's work led him 
to collaborate with

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our Nation's foremost heroes in the civil rights crusade, including the 
Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. Reverend Leach also served as the 
Manpower Director with Total Action Against Poverty (TAP). Even in his 
later years, Reverend Leach's dedication as a grassroots activist was 
as energized and focused as ever, and is reflected in his contribution 
and leadership within grassroots political campaigns, including my own.
  Mr. Speaker and colleagues, please join me in honor, remembrance and 
gratitude to Reverend Ralph Emerson Leach, whose life was defined by 
his steadfast commitment to his family and by his limitless passion to 
make his community, our Nation and our world, a better place. I extend 
my deepest condolences to his daughters and their spouses: Laura and 
Don, Rebecca and William, Naomi and Paul; to his son and his fiancee, 
Stephen and Sally; to his grandchildren, extended family members and 
many friends. His kindness, integrity, gentle guidance and service to 
others has made a difference in my life and in the lives of countless 
families and individuals, and he will be remembered always.

                          ____________________