[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 10 (Tuesday, January 26, 2010)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E85-E86]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         HONORING JOHN SHIELDS

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. ELIOT L. ENGEL

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, January 26, 2010

  Mr. ENGEL. Madam Speaker, for a Democracy to succeed, the people have 
to be an active part of the political process. John Shields, who is 
retiring as the Mayor of Nyack, joined the political process, albeit 
later in life than most people.
  He was born in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania and grew up as something of 
an Army brat, traveling from place to place. After high school he tried 
summer stock. He moved to New York City in 1965 where he sold caviar 
and worked in a drug rehabilitation center. He went to City College of 
New York, graduating in 1972, and for the next 30 years taught in New 
York City schools.
  He moved to Nyack in 1976 and in 1994 he ran for the Nyack Village 
Board and was elected Trustee. There followed two more terms as Trustee 
and four terms as Mayor and now he is retiring from elective office.
  John is primarily an activist, and got into politics as an extension 
of his activism. In 2004 he sued New York State for the right for same 
sex couples to marry. He noted that as Mayor, he could legally marry 
heterosexual couples while the state denied him that equal right for 
himself. And while he may have lost the suit he has not quit the 
battle.
  He still lives in Nyack, is still involved in the community, serving 
on the Board of Directors of Head Start of Rockland. He has not decided 
what to do next, but I wish him all the best that life has to offer in 
this next stage of his life.

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