[Congressional Record Volume 159, Number 149 (Wednesday, October 23, 2013)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1563]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     REMEMBERING MR. MAURICE LYONS

                                 ______
                                 

                             HON. PAUL COOK

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                      Wednesday, October 23, 2013

  Mr. COOK. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the life of Mr. Maurice 
Lyons, who passed away October 16, 2013. Mr. Lyons has left those 
living in the Morongo Basin with a legacy of public service and 
dedication to community.
  Mr. Lyons became well known throughout the Morongo Basin during his 
15 years of leadership as chairman of the Morongo Band of Mission 
Indians. Raised on the Morongo Reservation as one of nine children, 
Lyons entered public service in 1994 as a tribal housing commissioner 
and chairman of the Morongo Head Start parents committee. Soon after he 
was elected to the Morongo Tribal Council and was elected Tribal 
Chairman in 2001, serving a total of three terms.
  In addition to his leadership on the Tribal Council, Mr. Lyons 
established himself as a community leader through his role in 
developing the Morongo School, a college preparatory academy that 
opened on the reservation in 2010.
  In addition he served as president of the board of directors for 
National Indian Child Welfare Association and spearheaded a national 
drive that raised more than $500,000 toward the cost to build a 
National American Indian Veterans monument at Riverside National 
Cemetery.
  Today, I join with the Morongo Band of Mission Indians and with the 
entire Morongo Basin in remembering this extraordinary public leader 
who served as an inspiration to all those who knew him.

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