[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 83 (Monday, May 21, 2007)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1099]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          ``FIFTY GOOD YEARS''

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. BARNEY FRANK

                            of massachusetts

                    in the house of representatives

                          Monday, May 21, 2007

  Mr. FRANK of Massachusetts. Madam Speaker, yesterday, May 20, marked 
the 41st anniversary of the date on which Jose F. & Valentina C. Giesta 
emigrated from the Azores to Massachusetts, landing, fortunately for 
me, in New Bedford. I say fortunately for me because while I believe in 
general that hardworking immigrants like the Giestas have been a great 
boon to this country in so many ways, and have particularly added 
significantly to the economic and cultural richness of Southeastern 
Massachusetts, I've been a particular beneficiary of this immigration 
decision because their daughter, Maria, is my very capable Deputy Chief 
of Staff.
  The Giestas are an excellent example of why so many of us continue to 
support an immigration policy that welcomes people from elsewhere in 
the world who want to come to America both to share in the life we have 
and to help it flourish. Next week, on June 1, the Giestas will mark 
another very important anniversary--that of their wedding. They were 
married in Faja de Baixo in the Azores on June 1, 1957--several weeks, 
I will note, with a politicians penchant for getting himself into the 
act, before I graduated from high school.
  As the Giestas celebrate their 50th Anniversary with their family and 
friends in New Bedford, they will be with their five children, who are 
in addition to Maria Eugenia, Gualter, Jose Augusto, Aires, and 
Stephanie. Stephanie, incidentally, has become a very accomplished 
hairstylist of whose talents I regularly avail myself. Their five 
children have produced eight grandchildren, Melissa, Mark, Matthew, 
Jacob, Tyler, Austin, Quentin, and Daulton. As the family gathers in 
New Bedford next Saturday on this wonderful occasion, I take this 
opportunity to acknowledge this event here, not simply out of my 
personal feelings of gratitude and affection to the Giestas, as strong 
as they are, but because at a time when people have been hearing a lot 
of the negative arguments about immigration, the story of the Giestas--
a representative one for my district and many other districts across 
the country--shows how in fact immigration has been of overwhelming 
benefit to this Nation of immigrants. I am delighted to send my best 
wishes to Jose and Valentina and to tell them that I regularly cite 
them as an example of why an open and welcoming immigration policy 
continues to be in our Nation's best interest.

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