[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 214 (Thursday, December 17, 2020)]
[House]
[Pages H7238-H7239]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




           HONORING THE LIFE AND LEGACY OF ROSIE LEE ATCHISON

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Illinois (Mr. Danny K. Davis) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. DANNY K. DAVIS of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, to live to become 109 
years old in this country, or any country, as a matter of fact, is 
quite a feat. Such has been the life and legacy of Mrs. Rosie Atchison, 
who was born on August 15, 1911, in Bolivar, Mississippi, and passed 
away on November 23, 2020.
  Her birth mother passed away when Rosie was just 6 weeks old. She was 
taken into the care of her father, Mr. Henry Liner, who raised her as 
the second oldest of 27 children whom he fathered.
  Rosie grew up in Clarksdale, Mississippi, where she lived a typical 
life of Blacks in that area. She worked the fields, went to church, got 
married, had two children, lost a child, got tired of the fields and a 
failed marriage, and took her two children and migrated to Chicago, 
looking for a better life. That is exactly what she found.
  With faith in God, she joined the Greater Salem Missionary Baptist 
Church, where the renowned gospel singer Mahalia Jackson was a member, 
and she also sang in the choir.
  She met and married her second husband, Mr. Andrew Atchison, who 
worked for the Diamond Glue Factory. She found a job cleaning railcars 
for the Pennsylvania Railroad and worked there until her retirement in 
1970.
  Mrs. Atchison and her husband became very productive citizens and 
developed a reputation for helping others less fortunate than 
themselves. She became known to many as Big Mama, not because of her 
stature, but because she embraced any and everyone who needed help that 
she could help.
  She and her husband lived in the heart of the Bronzeville community 
until they were forced out to make room for the Illinois Institute of 
Technology. They protested and held marches around city hall but lost.
  After her husband died, she purchased a two-flat building in the 
Englewood community and kept on helping people.
  On November 23, 2020, after 109 years and 3 months, Rosie passed 
away, leaving 2 daughters; 15 grandchildren; 60 great-grandchildren; 95 
great-great-grandchildren; 24 great-great-great-grandchildren; 1 
sister, Ms. Josephine Liner Wilson; and a host of nieces, nephews, 
cousins, friends, and extended family.
  What a life and what a legacy.


                      Paying Tribute to Lee Raybon

  Mr. Speaker, I also pay tribute to Mr. Lee Raybon, a pioneer West 
Side of Chicago business and community leader.
  Whereas the Almighty God has called to his eternal rest Mr. Lee 
Raybon, a skilled mechanic and business leader who became a legend on 
the West Side of Chicago in the automobile repair business, and whereas 
I met Mr. Raybon in the late 1960s when one of my staffers, Ms. Arlene 
Granderson, introduced me to Mr. Nate Irwin, who was her mechanic and 
working at Raybon's Automotive Repair shop, Mr. Irwin became my friend 
and my mechanic.
  I had a reputation in my community for keeping cars a long time. I 
drove one car for 19 years, and everybody in the neighborhood knew the 
car. Mr. Raybon and his mechanics kept my cars running for more than 50 
years. Whatever it was that I drove, they had it running.
  Ultimately, he and his colleagues developed a little group of 
businesspeople: Garfield Major; Willie Barney; the Knox family at the 
hardware store; Cliff Duwel White at the fish market; Walker Harris, 
the iceman; Dave at the hotdog stand; and Reverend Murphy at the Rose 
of Sharon Cleaners. They were the heart of the business support group 
in that area.
  After he no longer worked, Mr. Raybon would come to the shop, sit 
around, and give people advice. He loved his community. He loved his 
business. He loved what he did.

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  He will be greatly missed. I am sure I will never find another 
mechanic who can keep my cars running for 50 years.

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