[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 132 (Tuesday, December 5, 2006)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E2070]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     PAYING TRIBUTE TO ERSILIA CRUZ

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. JOHN T. SALAZAR

                              of colorado

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, December 5, 2006

  Mr. SALAZAR. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize a woman who made 
a difference to so many people in the community of Pueblo, CO.
  Ersilia Cruz left her community a better place.
  Ersilia Cruz, who was a driving force for Hyde Park and ``remodeling 
the West Side,'' as she put it, died of a stroke Friday. She was 75.
  She helped bring the Cesar Chavez Academy and, most recently, the 
Dolores Huerta Preparatory High School to Hyde Park. She was director 
for many programs at the Hyde Park Community Center, was active at 
church and, her family said, had strong interests in the community and 
children.
  Her son Steve said that Ersilia decided to stay alive long past when 
she was supposed to because ``she wanted to talk to everyone before she 
left. She wasn't going until everyone in the family talked to her, and 
the whole week was like that. She was all family. That's what she stood 
for, and it was a neat experience for our family.''
  The recipient of several local, State and national awards, Cruz's 
most distinguished was probably the Dorothy Richardson Award in 2003, 
for which she was flown to Washington.
  That same year she also had a street in Hyde Park named after her, 
called Cruz Court.
  In the 1970s, Cruz operated G&E Grocery Store and later worked for 
Kwik Way and PDQ convenience stores, from which she retired while a 
manager.
  Cruz is survived by her husband of 59 years, George. The two met and 
wed in Mora, NM.
  Mrs. Cruz also is survived by 20 grandchildren, 22 great-
grandchildren and a great-great-granddaughter.
  The entire community of Pueblo, CO, will miss Ersilia Cruz.

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