[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 65 (Monday, April 23, 2007)]
[House]
[Pages H3753-H3754]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




             TRIBUTE TO THE HON. JUANITA MILLENDER-McDONALD

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Davis) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. DAVIS of Illinois. Madam Speaker, I join with my colleagues from 
all across America who have spent much of the evening extolling the 
virtues of our colleague Juanita Millender-McDonald. Much has been 
said, and yet there is much that can, in fact, be added.
  As a matter of fact, when I first came to Congress, Juanita was one 
of the first persons that my wife and I met. So my wife immediately 
became a Juanita Millender-McDonald fan. And I said to her, Vera, it is 
all right for you to be a Juanita Millender-McDonald fan, but don't try 
to dress like her. We can't afford it.
  Juanita was, in fact, a charming, delightful, snazzy lady, the 
essence of femininity, but as tough as a nail. As a matter of fact, I 
don't know if a week went by that I didn't receive some communique from 
her talking about some issue or explaining something that she had done 
or something that she had worked on. And as I listened to all of my 
colleagues talk about her many ``firsts,'' the first African American 
woman to serve on the Carson City Council, the first African American 
woman to render the national Democratic response to President Bush's 
weekly radio address, the first to be named Honorary Curator of the 
Museum of Latin American Art in Long Beach, and the first Democratic 
chair of the Congressional Caucus on Women's Issues. Obviously, she was 
many firsts. And I guess maybe the

[[Page H3754]]

poet Homer had her in mind when he said that there are pioneer souls 
that go where highways never ran, but let me live in my house by the 
side of the road and be a friend to man.
  And I guess he had Juanita in mind as he talked about why would I 
live in my house by the side of the road as the race of men go by. Men 
who are good, men who are bad, men who are wise, foolish, but then so 
am I. So why would I not simply be, as Juanita has been, one who 
understood the relationship between people, moving across aisles, 
moving across boundaries to accomplish and get things done.
  So on behalf of my family and me and all of the residents of the 
Seventh Congressional District of Illinois, we extend our greatest 
condolences to her family and say that we too would hope to live in the 
house by the side of the road like Juanita Millender-McDonald and be a 
friend to mankind.

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