[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 84 (Wednesday, May 15, 2024)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E505]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  HONORING MARY ELLEN CHAVEZ AS THE 2024 PLANADA COMMUNITY DAY PARADE 
                                MARSHAL

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. JOHN S. DUARTE

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, May 15, 2024

  Mr. DUARTE. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor Mary Ellen Chavez, as 
the Parade Marshal for the Town of Planada's 2024 Community Day Parade.
  The daughter of migrant farm workers, Mary Ellen was born in Brawley, 
California and is a proud graduate of Le Grand High School (LGHS). 
While an LGHS student, and eventual Manzanita Queen, she was encouraged 
by her peers to go to college. Eventually Mary Ellen became the first 
high school and college graduate in her family. She earned her Bachelor 
of Arts degree from the College of the Holy Names, an all-women's 
Catholic college in Oakland, on a full academic scholarship. Then she 
completed a teaching credential at Fresno State University.
  At age 21, Mary Ellen began a 55-year long career as a catechist, 
teaching three generations of Planada children how to love the Lord. A 
parishioner of Planada's Sacred Heart Catholic Church for over 80 
years, Mary Ellen (and her family) regularly volunteered to help clean 
the church. She was also a regular reader, eucharistic minister, and 
choir singer, as well as a founding member of the English rosary group. 
Around Planada, she spent the rest of her hours cooking the best chile 
verde, coaching softball, helping her husband run the Planada 
Recreation Program, or attending baseball and softball games all over 
the area, where you could hear her distinctive two-fingered, 
celebratory whistle from a mile away.
  Mary Ellen taught in Fresno, Merced and Kern counties during her 
teaching career. In 1999, she was named the Vineland School District 
Educator of the Year while teaching an innovative curriculum on the 
Dust Bowl Days at Sunset Middle School near Lamont. She retired from 
teaching in 2000, having already served several terms on the Le Grand 
Union High School District Board of Trustees from 1978 to 1991. After 
her retirement, she was appointed to the Merced County Board of 
Education and served from 2005 to 2014.
  Mary Ellen and her husband, John, married in 1963, and while dancing 
weekends at every wedding, church event or fundraiser, produced eight 
children plus one walk-on. Those eight gave them 20 grandchildren, who 
have so far produced 26 great-grandchildren. Nothing pleases Mary Ellen 
and John more than to be surrounded by the chaos of their big family.
  I ask my colleagues to join me in recognizing Mary Ellen as the 
Parade Marshal for the Town of Planada's 2024 Community Day Parade.

                          ____________________