[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 162 (Thursday, December 9, 2010)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E2108]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




   HONORING COMMUNITY ACTIVIST, NURSE, MOTHER, GRANDMOTHER AND GREAT 
               GRANDMOTHER MRS. KATHERINE TELLEZ ANDRADE

                                 ______
                                 

                             HON. JUDY CHU

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                       Thursday, December 9, 2010

  Ms. CHU. Madam Speaker, I rise today to recognize a great loss to our 
community, Mrs. Katherine Tellez Andrade, who passed away on November 
25, 2010, at the age of 85. My heart goes out to her daughters, the 
Hon. Adele Andrade-Stadler and Vibiana Andrade; her sons Adrian Andrade 
and Robert Andrade; her grandchildren Sean Andrade, Esq., Pilar 
Andrade, Emilio Andrade, Julian Andrade, Joaquin Andrade, Ramona 
Andrade Stadler and Katherine Andrade Ortiz; and the rest of her dear 
friends and family members.
  Katherine was an extraordinary citizen, mother, grandmother, great 
grandmother and a role model for community activism. Her selfless and 
just nature was cultivated in childhood, being one of 13 children 
raised by Ramona Ochoa and Florencio Tellez in the hardscrabble mining 
town of Clifton, Arizona. Growing up during the Great Depression in a 
small town divided by race and privilege fueled her lifelong commitment 
to fighting injustice.
  After high school, Katherine moved to Los Angeles to help in the war 
effort, assembling auxiliary gas tanks at a plant during World War II. 
While living in Boyle Heights she would always pass by General 
Hospital, vowing to one day work there as a nurse. After the war she 
returned to Arizona to pursue her dream, entering a federal nursing 
program at St. Mary's Hospital and eventually returning to L.A., where 
she worked as a nurse for many years at General Hospital and many other 
hospitals.
  After her marriage to Arthur Andrade, she raised her four children as 
a single parent, instilling in them her own work ethic and sense of 
social justice. She led by example, fighting against an English-only 
movement and other anti-immigrant measures in her longtime hometown of 
Monterey Park. She was a founding member of the Committee for Harmony 
in Monterey Park, which was formed to counter the anti-immigrant forces 
in the community, and she went on to a long involvement in grassroots 
activism, volunteering as a poll inspector and fighting for many 
Democratic causes.
  She cared deeply for her community, working to involve the Spanish-
speaking Latino community in her local church and even offering her 
home to a homeless woman whom she found sleeping at the local post 
office.
  I urge all my House colleagues to join me in honoring this remarkable 
woman for her remarkable service to our community.

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