[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 176 (Wednesday, November 19, 2008)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E2275]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




               HONORING DEACON HENRY WILFORD ELLIOTT, SR.

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. BARBARA LEE

                             of california

                      Wednesday, November 19, 2008

  Ms. LEE. Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor the extraordinary life 
of Deacon Henry Wilford Elliott, Sr. A dedicated educator and family 
man, Henry tirelessly devoted his life to his community and used his 
many talents in the service of others. He passed away on November 3, 
2008. Although we have said goodbye to our dear friend, his spirit will 
live on in our hearts through the love he shared with us.
  Born on May 20, 1917, in Vian, Oklahoma, Henry was the child of Frank 
Van Elliott and Beatrice Johnson Elliott. A small and loving family, 
the Elliots had only one other child, Henry's brother Othello, who 
preceded him in death.
  After graduating from Manual Training High School, Henry went on to 
college attending the Tuskegee Institute and Langston University, 
respectively. While in college, Henry joined the Alpha Phi Alpha 
fraternity in 1935 and was a founding member of the Kappa Omicron 
Lambda chapter. He graduated from Langston in 1938 and went on to teach 
high school for several years in Wagoner and Tallahassee, Oklahoma.
  Henry, known as Hank to his family and loved ones, served in the 
military for 21 years. By the time he retired he had earned the rank of 
captain. On January 11, 1943, Henry married the love of his life, Lydia 
Marie Pitts, in Porter, Oklahoma. This inspiring union would last 
almost 66 years, until Henry's passing.
  During the first years of their marriage, Henry and Lydia traveled 
extensively, living overseas in Japan and Germany as well as several 
States throughout the United States while Henry completed his service 
in the military. Their first child, Henry, Jr., was born in 1952 in 
Alaska. Their second child, Terence Todd, was born in Okinawa, Japan, 
in 1957. The family eventually settled in Richmond, California, in 
1963. In love with their new home State, Henry and Lydia remained in 
California from that point forward. They become true Californians and 
contributed to their local communities with an uncompromising level of 
compassion and selflessness.
  Henry was a devoted educator and taught for many years in the Vallejo 
school district. He retired as a junior high school principal in 1978, 
served on the school board for 8 years, and was elected board 
president. Throughout this time and after his retirement, Henry was 
relentlessly devoted to his community of Vallejo, his church, and 
services and organizations committed to assisting those most in need 
and improving opportunities for people of color.

  He served in numerous capacities and board positions, including the 
Vallejo Neighborhood Housing Association and the Adkins Project, of 
which he was a founding member. He served on the boards of Vallejo's 
Fighting Back Partnership and Meals on Wheels, and was a member of the 
Masonic Lodge Firma Chapter, the Omega Boys and Girls Club, the Pan 
Hellenic Council and the Solano County Juvenile Justice Board. Henry 
was also a past Patron of the Eastern Star, Princess Zorah Chapter #70 
and a lifetime member of Veterans of Foreign Wars and the NAACP.
  Henry's life spanned across the most influential, politically 
dynamic, and hard-fought social justice moments in our Nation's 
history. Henry Wilford Elliott, Sr., worked hard for everything in his 
life and did so with a calm and elegance often unmatched. The values 
that Henry developed early in his life--those of education, faith in 
God, and community service--would remain with him throughout the nine 
decades he witnessed. He was known as a hardworking and respected man 
who was cherished by all who knew him.
  On a personal note, I have had the privilege to have known Henry 
since I was 2 years old. He is the godfather of my sister, Beverly, and 
has been a loving part of my extended family. As a young girl, I fondly 
remember babysitting for Henry and Lydia. They were skilled and adoring 
parents and I often marveled at their unmistakable love for one another 
and their children. He was a very close friend of my family, and we 
will all miss him tremendously.
  On behalf of California's Ninth Congressional District, I would like 
to extend my deepest condolences to the family and friends of Deacon 
Henry Elliott, Sr., especially to his wife, Lydia, his loving children, 
Henry, Jr. and Terence, his daughters-in-law Sabrina and Amanda, his 
granddaughters Hasana, Karinda, Nyeri and Imani, his sisters-in-law 
Vonia Johnson, Velma McCann and Laura McCann, and his brother in-law, 
Floyd Pitts, as well as a host of nieces, nephews, cousins, and others 
whom Henry dearly loved. Thank you for sharing this kind spirit with 
us. May his soul rest in peace.

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