[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 33 (Friday, February 22, 2019)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E196-E197]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




   TRIBUTE TO ROY DOUGLAS AND SHIRLEY ANN MALONSON OF HOUSTON, TEXAS 
  ENTREPRENEURS, PHILANTHROPISTS, COMMUNITY LEADERS WHOSE LIFETIME OF 
                CIVIC ENGAGEMENT HAS ENRICHED OUR NATION

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. SHEILA JACKSON LEE

                                of texas

                    in the house of representatives

                       Friday, February 22, 2019

  Ms. JACKSON LEE. Madam Speaker, I rise to pay tribute to Roy Douglas 
and Shirley Ann Malonson, two great Americans in the City of Houston 
and Harris County, Texas, whose entrepreneurial talents and zeal over 
the past three decades has raised the consciousness of Houston's 
African American community to the life-changing potential of the free 
enterprise system and created thousands of jobs in the Acres Home 
Community located in my congressional district and Houston Metroplex.
  Acres Homes, once considered the South's largest unincorporated black 
community, is south of Aldine and ten miles northwest of downtown 
Houston in Harris County. It developed around the time of World War I, 
when landholders began selling off home sites in plots big enough to 
allow small gardens and maintain chickens or farm animals. The town 
derived its name from the fact that land was sold by the acre and not 
by the lot. The first settlers came from rural areas, attracted by the 
community's inexpensive land, low taxes, and the absence of city 
building standards. Residents dug wells and built sanitary facilities, 
but conditions in the settlement subsequently declined. When the city 
of Houston approved a plan to annex the area and install water and 
sewer lines, Acres Homes was a 12\1/2\-square-mile, heavily wooded, and 
dispersed slum settlement lacking transportation and educational 
facilities. Although 90 percent of the residents were homeowners, the 
majority of the housing stock was substandard.
  In 1950, Roy Malonson was afflicted with polio that left him with 
physical limitations, but it had no effect on his vision and drive. His 
late father, John Curley Malonson, Sr., challenged him by saying, 
``something is wrong with your leg, but there is nothing wrong with 
your mind, so work with what you have.'' At age 7, Roy Malonson was 
shining shoes in his father's barber shop and by age 13 had opened a 
woodworking shop. The woodworking company grew to become Roy's Custom 
Cabinets which later became the Malonson Construction Company which 
became Malonson Custom Homes and is now the Malonson Company, Inc., one 
of the largest and best African American custom homebuilders in 
Houston.
  In the early 1990s, Roy Malonson developed new health problems, 
struck by what has come to be called the ``Post-Polio Syndrome.'' Once 
again using mind over physical limitation, Roy Malonson overcame and 
adapted. He retired from his 27-year old building business, reduced his 
workday, and devoted more time to community service and businesses he 
could manage. This enabled him to devote and donate more time and 
financial support to the many educational and community organizations 
he helped establish, including the Acres Home War on Drugs, the first 
community war on drugs in the nation.
  Roy and Shirley Malonson also founded the Acres Home Citizen Chamber 
of Commerce, focusing on business, community, and education; the Acres 
Home Community Development Corp, focusing on housing; the Acres Home 
Coalition Administrative School, the first charter school in Texas; and 
in 1994 the Acres Home Center for Business & Economic Development, a 
non-profit 501(c)(3) which has become recognized as a cornerstone 
providing leadership, as well as personal and professional development 
opportunities to small businesses and entrepreneurs in the community.
  The Malonsons were the driving force behind Aldine Independent School 
District Montessori-Magnet Programs, the Lone Star Community College 
System Victory Center, the Acres Home Multiservice Center, and the 
Acres Home Police Station.
  Roy and Shirley Malonson invested in and uplifted the Acres Home 
Community by establishing in 1992 Shirley Ann's Black Art & 
Kollectibles Showroom, the largest Black Art & Kollectibles Showroom in 
Texas and one of the largest in the nation. In 1996 they established 
African American News & Issues, the largest African American newspaper 
in Texas and one of the largest in the nation. And in 1998, with one 
mission in mind, to offer and deliver pizza in the African American 
community, they purchased two Domino's Pizza stores, the South Victory 
and Ella locations, and had controlling interest in a total of ten 
locations throughout Houston.
  Roy and Shirley Ann Malonson continued their entrepreneurial zeal and 
commitment to the Acres Home community by establishing in

[[Page E197]]

1998 the Malonson RS Ranch in Harris County; the RS Deer Ranch in 
Waller County in 2004, one of two African American Whitetail Deer 
Breeders in the nation; Shirley Ann's Flower Shop in 2013; the RS Deer 
& Cattle Ranch in Waller County; and Shirley Ann's Black Kollectibles & 
Flowers in 2014. Shirley Ann Malonson is now President and CEO of the 
Malonson Company.
  Roy Douglas Malonson and Shirley Ann Malonson are the proud parents 
of a daughter, Melanie Nicole Malonson, and the grandparents of Tayler 
and Caleb.
  Madam Speaker, I am proud to honor two legendary Texas heroes, my 
constituents, Roy Douglas and Shirley Ann Malonson, who have devoted 
their lifetimes to creating economic opportunity and development for 
their beloved Acres Homes community. These two great American 
trailblazers have made a difference in the lives of thousands of men, 
women, children and businesses. Their work has brought our nation 
closer to fulfilling its founding ideals. And it is that work that 
truly makes America great.

                          ____________________