[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 15 (Thursday, January 24, 2019)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E86-E87]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




            CELEBRATION OF THE LIFE OF RESSIE DAVIS ENGLISH

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. COLIN Z. ALLRED

                                of texas

                    in the house of representatives

                       Thursday, January 24, 2019

  Mr. ALLRED. Madam Speaker, today I include in the Record the life, 
the story and the legacy of Ressie Davis English. The grandmother of my 
colleague, friend and fellow Texan, Congressman Marc Veasey.
  Mrs. English passed on January 18, 2019, after 106 years of life. 
Throughout her life, she was a devoted wife, mother, grandmother, great 
grandmother, gardener and student of scripture.
  On July 29, 1912, in the small town of Rice, Mr. William and Mrs. 
Mary Hart Davis completed their family of six with a newborn girl they 
named Ressie Davis. Mr. Davis, like most black citizens of Navarro 
County at the time, was a farmer. Mr. Davis's father, a well-educated 
and regarded Baptist minister was resolute in his belief that to do 
well, his children

[[Page E87]]

needed to be well educated and passed this belief onto his children.
  To be black and well educated required that the Davis family find 
schools beyond the small, rural, operations for black children that 
existed at the time. Ressie attended high school at Jackson in 
Corsicana. Jackson was the designated school in town for black students 
during the era of segregation in Texas. Ressie 's family left Rice and 
moved to where she met the love of her life, Robert March English.
  She and Dr. English, `Bob', married in the spring of 1939, and a few 
years later had their first child, a daughter named, Mary LlaBetta. By 
the time a second daughter, Lizzie Elizabeth Janet arrived, the family 
was living in the bustling town of Mineral Wells, Texas, and Dr. 
English had become an established young and dynamic Baptist minister 
working in Jacksboro, Texas.
  Dr. English soon became vice-moderator and later moderator of the 
West Texas District Baptist Association. His ministry flourished, but 
the need for better medical resources dictated a return to Corsicana. 
They later added to the family daughters Doris Theresa, ``SanDei'', and 
Eva Carolyn and their two sons, Robert James and Joseph Hart-Davis 
English.
  Ressie settled into her role of minister's wife working as a 
homemaker and running her household with great diligence. She agreed to 
move to Fort Worth with the caveat that if the church was to be in Lake 
Como, housing had to be found within walking distance to Como 
elementary school. Her last three children, Constance Grace, John Moses 
and Rubye DeiGratia were born in Lake Como. Fully settled in Fort 
Worth, all nine of the children graduated from or attended Como senior 
high school.
  The English's were well regarded in the Lake Como community, 
unwavering in their commitment to the church, and steadfast in 
overseeing the activities of their nine children. The children 
participated in everything the school had to offer. Ressie made sure 
her children became fixtures in the recreational and academic setting 
in the Como community; from piano lessons to track and football, to the 
PTA, Drama and Debate Club to the National Honors Society, they did it 
all.
  After the establishment of the first church commissioned by the West 
Texas Baptist Association, Ressie became ``First Lady'' of another 
church, independently established by her husband. They named it Mount 
Moriah Baptist Church. Dr. English guided this church until his death 
in 1987. Ressie always put God and family first, and in her spare time, 
she enjoyed gardening and harvesting fruit and vegetables at her Lake 
Como home. Trips to the now obsolete retailers, Handy Dan and 
Sutherland's, were her favorite places to buy outdoor and home 
improvement items. While she did enjoy fresh food; she never turned 
down a good Breakfast Jack or a two-piece meal from Churches on 
Lackland and Camp Bowie.
  In addition to gardening, Ressie was also very handy at sewing; and 
always kept a machine, which she was very proud of, nestled near a 
corner window in her dining room. But most importantly Ressie enjoyed 
studying the Bible, and for most of her 106 years, she could quote 
scripture and the words of Jesus Christ with remarkable accuracy and 
clarity. She oftentimes hummed churched hymns while knitting, reading, 
or working outdoors. And her memory allowed her to be a master 
storyteller of days long gone. The summer of 2018 marked 106 years in 
the life of Ressie Davis English. On January 18, 2019, she went home to 
be with her Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. We celebrate her life today 
with these words forever enshrined into the Congressional Record of the 
United States House of Representatives, where her grandson Marc Veasey 
serves. She was preceded in death by her husband Dr. Robert English and 
three children Mary LlaBetta Sowels, Robert James English and Joseph 
Hart English, and two granddaughters.
  Her legacy continues through her children, Elizabeth English Burky, 
Doris Theresa English, Eva Carolyn English-Clay, Constance English 
Cash, John Moses English and Charley Rubye English-Carter. She is also 
survived by many grandchildren, and great-grandchildren and great-
great-grandchildren. Her kids and grandchildren have gone on to work in 
broadcasting, higher education, politics, the food and beverage 
industry, and many other endeavors of hard work and accomplishment of 
which Mrs. English was very proud.
  I wish Mrs. English peace and my deepest condolences to Congressman 
Veasey and his family.

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