[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 104 (Tuesday, July 7, 2015)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1009-E1010]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 REMEMBERING THE LIFE OF MORRIE SANCHEZ

                                 ______
                                 

                       HON. LUCILLE ROYBAL-ALLARD

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, July 7, 2015

  Ms. ROYBAL-ALLARD. Mr. Speaker, I rise to remember Morrie Sanchez, a 
longtime Angeleno, onetime union organizer, avid dancer, and family 
friend. Morrie passed away quietly on June 16, 2015, in Monrovia, 
California, at the age of 97.
  Born on June 25, 1917, in Jerome, Arizona, to Victoria Balderamos and 
Angel Gonzalez, Morrie was from an old California family whose roots in 
the state predated the Mexican Revolution and its becoming part of the 
United States. She had two sisters, Vera and Margarita.
  Her grandfather, Zeferino Balderamos, was born in San Luis Obispo in 
the early 1800s, and her grandmother, Modesta Rodriguez, was from 
Sonora, Mexico.
  When Morrie moved to Los Angeles, California, she lived and raised 
her three eldest daughters--Dolores, Rose Marie, and Carol--in the 
city's downtown core, in an area known as Bunker Hill. She later moved 
to Pico-Union, where she raised her youngest daughter, Sylvia.
  Morrie was a stalwart of the International Ladies Garment Workers 
Union (ILGWU), serving as a union organizer, as a shop steward, and 
multiple terms as local chapter president between 1950 and the late 
1980s.
  A longtime community activist, Morrie worked diligently in many 
political campaigns. These included the first election of my father, 
former Congressman Edward R. Roybal, to his earlier position as the 
first Latino in the 20th century to be elected to the Los Angeles City 
Council.
  For many years, she volunteered with the City of Hope and White 
Memorial Hospital, and with many other local nonprofit groups.
  Morrie did not let retirement slow her down a bit. Instead, she used 
her ``free time'' to support senior citizen causes, and could often be 
seen dancing the afternoon away at one of the many local senior 
centers, including the International Institute in Boyle Heights, the 
Highland Park Senior Center, and Salazar Park in East Los Angeles.

[[Page E1010]]

  In 1990, the International Institute named her ``Mother of the 
Year.'' Morrie was the matriarch of six generations living in Southern 
California at the time of her death.
  The Roybal family is fortunate to have known Morrie Sanchez as a 
supporter and friend.
  She is survived by daughters Dolores Sanchez, Rose Marie Barron, 
Carol Limon, and Sylvia Sanchez; sons-in-law Jonathan Sanchez and 
Gilbert Limon; 17 grandchildren; 41 great-grandchildren; 29 great-
great-grandchildren; and one great-great-great grandchild. She was laid 
to rest on June 25, 2015, at Calvary Cemetery in East Los Angeles.

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