[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 59 (Thursday, April 4, 2019)]
[House]
[Page H3072]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  0915
             CELEBRATING THE LIFE OF MS. BESSIE M. SWINDLE

  (Mr. GREEN of Texas asked and was given permission to address the 
House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. GREEN of Texas. Madam Speaker, it is with great pride that I rise 
today to commemorate and celebrate the life of a great and noble 
American, Ms. Bessie Swindle, who will be laid to rest.
  Madam Speaker, Ms. Swindle was born in 1939 at a time when she could 
buy a hat but she couldn't try it on. She was relegated to the balcony 
of the movie and the back of the bus.
  Yet, notwithstanding all of the obstacles that life afforded her, she 
was a servant to multiple elected officials: two constables and two 
mayors.
  She has been given a day in her honor by Mayor Bill White in 2007.
  She was, literally, a commissioner without a commission. She was a 
council person without a council. She was a lawyer without a license. 
She was the person who gave hope to the hopeless and help to the 
helpless.
  She lived up to the words of Ruth Smeltzer:

       Some measure their lives by days and years,
       Others by heartthrobs, passions, and tears.
       But the surest measure under God's sun,
       Is what for others in your lifetime have you done.

  God bless you, dear Bessie. We love you. Your spirit will live 
forever, and your legacy will continue to change the lives of others.
  You made headway when others were making headlines.
  We love you.

                          ____________________