[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 100 (Thursday, July 7, 2011)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1262]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      HONORING THEOLA MARIE STARKS

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. RAUL M. GRIJALVA

                               of arizona

                    in the house of representatives

                         Thursday, July 7, 2011

  Mr. GRIJALVA. Mr. Speaker, Theola Marie Starks was born on June 2nd, 
1928 in Grant, Oklahoma, the fourth of ten children of Reverend John B. 
and Marie C. Dawson. She and her husband, Burnes O. (Chief) Starks, 
Sr., moved to Phoenix in 1949 and started a family with the first of 
their ten children, Burnes O. (Burney) Starks, Jr. Mr. Starks was a 
chemist and soil tester for Arizona Testing Laboratories, and both Mr. 
and Mrs. Starks supplemented their income by picking cotton across the 
state.
  The family moved to Tucson in 1966 and continued to raise their ten 
children on the south side of town in the Western Hills and Las Vistas 
neighborhoods. Mrs. Starks was very involved in community service, 
working as a teacher's aide and volunteering at a number of schools 
including Utterback, Cavett and Townsend. She always made friends 
easily and turned them into family. She believed in the Village raising 
children--she felt strongly that ``your kids are mine and mine are 
yours.''
  Mrs. Starks also frequently volunteered with respected neighborhood 
matriarch Mrs. Tommie Thomas. Even though she only had a tenth grade 
education, she made sure her children understood the value and 
importance of education, integrity and hard work. All ten children--
Burnes O., Gary E., Daryl D., Terry L., Charles G., Donna R., Harry J., 
Jacqueline B., Larry D., and Timothy B.--finished high school and 
entered college. Seven of the ten children earned college degrees.
  Dr. Kevin Leman, noted psychologist and birth order doctor, has often 
commented on this woman and the remarkable way she raised ten children. 
Beyond her immediate family, nearly 100 children knew her as ``mom'' or 
``grandma.''
  Theola Starks' life was defined by miracles, as those who know her 
can testify, but the greatest miracle was her--the ability to smile, 
touch, befriend, forgive, mother and love anyone who came into her 
life. She was the ultimate prayer warrior. Today, we mark her passing 
and commend her as a role model and a wonderful person.

                          ____________________