[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 4 (Friday, January 9, 2009)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E57]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        HONORING BERNIECE HUGHES

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. KEVIN BRADY

                                of texas

                    in the house of representatives

                        Friday, January 9, 2009

  Mr. BRADY of Texas. Madam Speaker, I stand up today before my 
esteemed colleagues to honor a lifelong resident of my district who 
just flat-out loved politics. Nothing--short of time with her three 
children, five grandchildren, nine great-grandchildren and nine great-
great-grandchildren--made Berniece Hughes of Conroe, Texas, happier 
than getting mad at what we all had to say on her favorite all-news 
channels. The daughter of the late W.V. and Lennie Galloway Holliday of 
Polk County, Berniece Hughes did her growing up during the Great 
Depression. She was a girls' basketball and track team member at 
Goodrich High in Polk County where she was in the 1934 graduating 
class. The oldest of six, Berniece is now reunited in heaven with her 
brothers and sisters and her sweetheart, B.F. ``Bert'' Hughes.
  A master of the one-liners, Berniece, even at 92, was--as her 
daughter puts it--a ``doodle mama just like Driving Miss Daisy.'' 
Likening her mother and father to screen giants Tracy and Hepburn, Lana 
says quick quips and laughter were just part of growing up a Hughes. 
Berniece thoroughly enjoyed being home with her children--B.F. ``Mike'' 
Hughes, Jr. of Livingston, and Wayne Hughes and Lana Hughes of 
Houston--as they were growing up. She was even more delighted to spend 
the second half of her days in Conroe enjoying watching her children 
bring her grandchildren and her grandchildren bring her great-
grandchildren and so on. Everyone who met her described Berniece as ``a 
pistol.''
  Once again, Madam Speaker, I thank my colleagues for allowing me to 
share the story of a life well lived and ask for their thoughts and 
prayers as Berniece's large, loving family will gather together at the 
Forest Park Lawndale Cemetery and Funeral Home to say their final 
goodbyes to their ``doodle mama,'' this Saturday morning.

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