[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 35 (Friday, February 21, 2020)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E197]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 CELEBRATING ESMERALDA LONGORIA GARCIA

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. SYLVIA R. GARCIA

                                of texas

                    in the house of representatives

                       Friday, February 21, 2020

  Ms. GARCIA of Texas. Madam Speaker, Esmeralda Longoria Garcia will be 
a centenarian on February 24, 2020 and her family will celebrate this 
milestone on Saturday February 22, 2020 at her home.
  She was born on February 24, 1920 in Alice, Texas to her parents 
Leonardo Longoria and Luisa Lopez Longoria and raised in Sarita, Texas. 
She attended first grade in Sarita, and her father took her to school 
on horseback. From second to twelfth grade she went to school in the 
Alice Independent School District. She spent 9 months with her uncle 
Julian Gomez to attend school and spent her summers with her parents in 
Sarita.
  She attended Texas College of Arts and Industries in Kingsville, now 
known as Texas A&M University Kingsville.
  She taught elementary school at Kingsville ISD her first year from 
1946 to 1947. She taught in three different elementary grades in three 
different schools--Nayer, Saenz, and Mary R. Garcia--in the Alice 
Independent School District from 1947 to 1981.
  She retired with 35 years of dedicated service as a teacher.
  She married Alberto Arambula Garcia from Palito Blanco, and they 
lived in Alice, Texas. They had one son, Alberto Garcia Jr., two 
grandchildren, Victoria and Bryan Garcia, and two great grandchildren, 
Mila Jo and Rowen.
  She has been a member of the Beta Pi Chapter of Delta Kappa Gamma for 
57 years and a member of Tri-County Retired Teachers Association since 
1981.
  Congresswoman Sylvia R. Garcia proclaims, ``Tia Mere, you have a 
heart of gold, a century of experiences and wisdom, and you are by far 
the most extraordinary person I have ever known.''

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