[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 102 (Thursday, July 9, 2009)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1693]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




              HONORING THE LIFE OF MARY ALICE TERRY SKAGGS

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                           HON. RALPH M. HALL

                                of texas

                    in the house of representatives

                         Thursday, July 9, 2009

  Mr. HALL of Texas. Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor the memory 
and accomplishments of a woman who dedicated more than fifty years of 
her life to educate and help others, Mary Alice Terry Skaggs of Plano 
Texas, who passed away this past March.
  Mrs. Mary Skaggs was born in Celina, Texas on April 22, 1908. She 
attended high school at Gunter Bible College and Kidd-Key College in 
Sherman. Mary received both her bachelor's and master's degrees from 
Austin College in Sherman, leading her later become the first 
Independent School District teacher to hold a master's degree.
  Mary Skaggs taught English, economics, and journalism in Plano where 
her expertise in educating others did not go unnoticed. The Texas 
Federation of Women's Clubs acknowledged Mary as Teacher of the Year in 
1958, and the Plano Business and Professional Women's Club honored her 
with the Career Achievement Award in 1968.
  Mary's legacy to better educate, mentor, and improve young lives in 
the community at large are immortalized in a 2006 No Child Left Behind 
Ribbon School, the Mary Alice Skaggs Elementary, established by the 
Plano school district. In recognition of her 30 years as a Plano 
teacher, the school has been a source of exemplary education since its 
opening in 1996.
  Mary was preceded in death by her husband James Harold Skaggs. She 
will be missed by her two sisters Addie Lee Cox and Benny Cox, and her 
niece, and the countless lives that were touched and influenced by her 
years as an outstanding educator.
  Madam Speaker, I commend Mary Alice Terry Skaggs for her lifelong 
devotion to education and her community.

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