[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 182 (Friday, November 16, 2018)]
[House]
[Pages H9541-H9542]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      HONORING HENRY W. COIL, JR.

  (Mr. TAKANO asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. TAKANO. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the life of Henry W. 
Coil, Jr., a Riverside native and a champion of education in the arts.
  Henry has left an indelible legacy as a visionary and as a 
philanthropist who loved and supported his community. Through his 
generous and highly successful construction work, he helped build and 
restore schools and infrastructure throughout the Inland Empire in 
southern California.
  I knew Henry through his love for Riverside Community College, which 
he attended before moving on to UC Berkeley. At RCC, we worked to 
establish a new school for the arts, and it was Henry's philanthropy 
that helped turn this vision into a reality.
  For most of his life, Henry was a successful businessman, but his 
dedication to his community set him apart. He served briefly on the 
Riverside City Council, and he was a devoted supporter of the Boy 
Scouts. In fact, he even went on to earn the Boy Scouts' Distinguished 
Eagle Scout Award, recognizing 50 years of his continued service to the 
Boy Scouts.

[[Page H9542]]

  Above all, what made Henry special was his character. He stood up to 
bigotry and prejudice. I recall him saying to me how misguided he 
thought it was that a local politician was running a homophobic 
campaign. This was a bold position to take at the time, but this 
statement has stuck with me, throughout my life and career, as a mark 
of his character.
  While Henry may no longer be with us, the positive change he created 
will never be forgotten.

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