[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 77 (Thursday, May 4, 2017)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E610]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




   TRIBUTE TO MS. RUTH LIFE, EDUCATOR, FRIEND, AND COMMUNITY ACTIVIST

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                          HON. DANNY K. DAVIS

                              of illinois

                    in the house of representatives

                         Thursday, May 4, 2017

  Mr. DANNY K. DAVIS of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, I have been fortunate to 
have known many outstanding people during my lifetime, but never have I 
known a more outstanding, more passionate, more consistent, more 
reliable or more giving of herself than Ms. Ruth Life, whom I met in 
the 1960s. I met Ms. Life during the time when community activism was 
at a seriously high level.
  Ms. Life, like many of our generation, were actively engaged in 
efforts to make life better for the people who lived in the communities 
where we lived and worked. Many of the workshops, forums, training 
sessions and meetings which I attended, Ms. Life would be present and 
participating. We were working in District 10 where Mr. Joseph Rosen 
was Superintendent of schools and Mrs. Ida Mae (MA) Fletcher was the 
leading school activist. As time went on, I left the teaching 
profession but continued to run into Ms. Life at meetings and church 
activities. When it came to teaching, none were better, as an Assistant 
Principal she was creative, encouraging and imaginative. When you 
walked into the Roswell B. Mason Elementary School, you knew that 
teachers were teaching and students were learning.
  Thirty-eight years is a long time to teach and educate, but a 
lifetime of service to humanity through church, the Peoples Church of 
the Harvest Church of God in Christ and the Peoples Community 
Development Association of Chicago Inc. and other organizations.
  I can almost hear the Master speaking to her, well done my good and 
faithful servant. You have done exceptionally well here on earth, come 
on up. I welcome you into the bosom of Abraham where you can rest in 
peace.

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