[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 39 (Thursday, March 3, 2022)]
[House]
[Page H1278]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




          HONORING THE LIFE AND LEGACY OF RAYMOND JORDAN, JR.

  (Ms. PRESSLEY asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute.)
  Ms. PRESSLEY. Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor the life and 
legacy of the late State Representative Raymond Jordan, Jr.
  Representative Jordan was a good man, a trailblazing man, and a 
friend and mentor to many. A resident of Springfield and a product of 
Springfield Public Schools, he went on to become the first African 
American elected to the Massachusetts State House.
  Over the course of his career, he chaired the powerful Ways and Means 
Committee and the Committee on Housing and Urban Development. His 
indefatigable commitment to equity and justice earned him the enduring 
yet fitting nickname of ``Barracuda.''
  His impact in his local community and in Massachusetts' history and 
politics is indelible and enduring--in bills, in laws, in buildings, 
but, most of all, in people.
  But many of his greatest achievements will live on through the loving 
family that he built alongside the love of his life, Donna Harris 
Jordan. Of all his most memorable titles and tasks, he would most want 
to be remembered as a loving husband and father who fought tirelessly 
for his community and his people.
  When I think of the late Raymond Jordan, Jr., I am reminded of the 
words of the African-American hymn that says: ``May the work I have 
done speak for me.''
  Indeed, the many works of Raymond Jordan speak for him both now and 
for eternity. May he rest in power and in peace.

                          ____________________