[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 114 (Thursday, September 14, 2006)]
[House]
[Page H6538]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




        MOURNING THE LOSS OF FORMER TEXAS GOVERNOR ANN RICHARDS

  (Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas asked and was given permission to address 
the House for 1 minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, it is my sad duty to report to 
the House of Representatives the loss of an American original, and that 
is our former governor, the great Ann Richards. Governor Richards died 
yesterday after a long battle with throat cancer. She was 73.
  I can tell you for sure that Ann Richards made us proud to be Texans. 
Dorothy Ann Willis Richards began her career in politics in the early 
1970s after having raised four children. A Democrat, she served as 
County Commissioner in Travis County, Texas, from 1977 to 1982. Ann 
Richards was elected to the first of two terms as Texas State Treasurer 
in 1982.
  She was born in Lakeview, Texas. She grew up in Waco, Texas, and 
graduated from Waco High School. And she loved her Texas.
  After graduation, she taught social studies and history at Fulmore 
Junior High School in Austin, Texas, from 1955 to 1956. She had two 
daughters and two sons in the following years, and she campaigned for 
Texas liberals and progressives such as Henry B. Gonzalez, Ralph 
Yarborough, and Sarah Weddington, and she was not ashamed.
  In 1976, Richards ran against and defeated a three-term incumbent on 
the Travis County, Texas, Commissioner Court.
  Ann Richards gave that unforgettable keynote address in the 1988 
Democratic National Convention, and she turned the Nation around.
  In 1990, she sought the Democratic gubernatorial nomination. She won 
and she won as governor. And I am reminded of the Honorable Barbara 
Jordan, who campaigned for her; and the two of them were Texas' dynamic 
duo.
  She did a lot as governor. The first thing she said was to cut the 
shackles off of the governor's house and opened it to the people of 
Texas. That is the kind of public official Ann Richards was and 
continued to be, someone who believed in the people's house and the 
people first.
  She helped jump-start the economy in Texas. She helped reform the 
prison system by providing an abuse program for inmates, and she 
instituted the Texas lottery so that educational opportunities could be 
improved for our children.
  Texas has lost a wonderful native daughter, someone who loved and 
cherished democracy, justice, the opportunity for those who could not 
speak for themselves.
  Ann Richards stood for the opportunity for women in the public 
sector. She said to us, do not turn back, and yes, we can.
  None of us who knew and loved Ann Richards will ever forget her or 
the way she heightened and brightened the lives of all the people she 
served. She was one in a million and she will be deeply missed. She 
will never be replaced. She was an American original. She was my 
friend. We will forever be in her debt and forever miss her.
  Thank you, Ann Richards, for being the kind of role model for all the 
women, all the girls and all of America.

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