[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 35 (Monday, March 5, 2012)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E310-E311]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   CELEBRATING THE LIFE OF RAUL SOLIS

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. LYNN C. WOOLSEY

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                         Monday, March 5, 2012

  Ms. WOOLSEY. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to celebrate the life of a man 
who truly embodied the American Dream, who came here with nothing and 
built something, whose ethic of sacrifice and responsibility represents 
a life to be emulated.
  Raul Solis of La Puente, California died last Wednesday at the age of 
88. He was born on February 27, 1924 in Tucson, Arizona, but he spent 
most of his youth in Veracruz, Mexico. He returned to the United States 
as a teenager, as a part of the Bracero program to address labor 
shortages caused by World War II.
  Mr. Solis worked in both the fields and the factory--as a farmworker, 
on the railroads, in a battery recycling plant and eventually as a 
Teamster shop steward. He was a proud union man. He eventually settled 
in southern California, where he met Juana in an American citizenship 
class. She survives him after 58 years of marriage. Together, they had 
seven children--Irma, Raul Jr., Hilda (our former House colleague and 
current U.S. Secretary of Labor), Victor, Beatriz, Anna and Leticia. 
Their family would grow to include 10 grandchildren and 15 great-
grandchildren.
  The Solises lived modestly but happily. Their riches came in the form 
of love, family and faith; humility, self-respect and hard work. Raul 
Solis cared about politics, the law and social justice. He was a 
Teamsters shop steward at a battery recycling plant. Secretary Solis 
tells of her father coming home from work and pulling scraps of paper 
with Spanish writing out of his pocket. He wanted her to translate 
these notes from his co-workers, outlining concerns about safety 
conditions at the plant. And now his firsthand experience informs the 
wisdom and the decision-making of his daughter, as she meets her 
mandate to improve the lives of workers around the country.
  Mr. Solis was also an outdoorsman who passed along to his children 
important lessons about the beauty of the natural world and the 
imperative of environmental justice. Secretary Solis' career and 
priorities in public service have been driven by the experience of 
living around polluted landfills while nearby affluent communities 
experienced little environmental degradation.
  It was my pleasure to meet this extraordinary man and to see the 
quiet strength of his character. Raul Solis, laid to rest today,

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leaves behind an impressive legacy of honesty and dignity. Please join 
me in extending my condolences to his entire family.

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