[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 50 (Tuesday, March 27, 2012)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E457]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




             CELEBRATING THE LIFE AND LEGACY OF LOU POULOS

                                 ______
                                 

                             HON. ED PASTOR

                               of arizona

                    in the house of representatives

                        Tuesday, March 27, 2012

  Mr. PASTOR of Arizona. Mr. Speaker, I ask my colleagues to join me in 
recognizing the life and achievements of Mr. Lou Poulos, who recently 
passed away. As a husband and father, as a friend and businessman, as a 
community trade association and church leader, Lou was an extraordinary 
man who cared deeply for his country, state and city and the industry 
that he was instrumental in shaping for half a century.
  The sixth of nine children to Greek immigrants, Lou contracted polio 
at the age of 2. Although he received treatment as a child, Lou never 
regained full use of his legs and walked with crutches or used a 
wheelchair for the remainder of his life. Lou's condition did not 
detract from his steadfast determination to live a life on his terms, 
not on the terms of the disease that damaged his legs. In 1929, his 
father and a partner started the wholesale Farmers Produce Company. 
Later at the end of Prohibition in 1933, the elder Poulos acquired one 
of the first wholesale liquor licenses in Arizona. Lou got his first 
taste of the business by helping his father in the Miami, Arizona 
office by taking orders for liquor over the phone.
  Lou was widely recognized and respected in the liquor industry and 
the Arizona community as a whole from the time he was a young man. But 
he really came into his own when he developed a chain of drive-through 
liquor stores, which were launched from his father's business. Farmers 
Liquors was the first retail liquor chain in the state, with some 15 
locations through the Valley of the Sun. Under Lou's management, 
Farmers Liquors prospered. While he was building his own business, he 
was mindful of the importance of all the tiers of the industry and the 
impact of political legislation and the people who made those 
decisions.
  Early on, Lou became active in the Arizona Licensed Beverage 
Association (ALBA), founded in 1936 to protect liquor licenses against 
unfair legislation. He was largely responsible for putting teeth into 
ALBA and working to fulfill the mission of the organization. Serving on 
the Board of Directors and Executive Committee for decades, Lou was 
also the association's longest serving treasurer--45 years.
  Lou Poulos was a very generous man, not only in financial terms, but 
also in lending his time, wisdom and expertise to individuals and 
worthy causes that sought his assistance. Lou was not one to make his 
contributions known publically. According to Georgia, his wife of 57 
years, Lou was especially supportive of organizations that were 
involved in helping those afflicted with infantile paralysis (polio), 
the disease he contracted at age two. He was a lifetime contributor to 
his church in Phoenix, Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Cathedral and its 
affiliated organizations, and an active volunteer during the annual 
Greek Festival, which observed its 51st year in 2011. Lou also donated 
financially to associations dedicated to cancer and heart disease 
research, as well as the Wounded Warrior Project, among other veteran's 
organizations. In every respect, Lou Poulos was a good man and a good 
citizen who, without seeking fanfare or plaudits, quietly enriched the 
fabric of our great and unique nation.
  In considering all of these achievements, I ask that you join me in 
recognizing Mr. Lou Poulos for his courageous overcoming of adversity, 
his many contributions to the progress and growth of Arizona and his 
prominent and positive influence on the state's liquor industry.

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