[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 127 (Friday, August 2, 2024)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E799]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




             HONORING THE LIFE AND LEGACY OF FELIX Z. FRAGA

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. SYLVIA R. GARCIA

                                of texas

                    in the house of representatives

                         Friday, August 2, 2024

  Ms. GARCIA of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor a friend and 
a hero of the East End, Felix Z. Fraga, who passed away last week at 
the age of 94.
  Born one day after the market crash on Black Tuesday, Felix's life 
was defined by his fight to end poverty in all its forms.
  Growing up in the East End, one of Felix's foundational memories at 
the start of the Depression was going to the Rusk Settlement House, a 
community center, for a daily meal. But the Rusk House, and later 
Ripley House would become so much more than a place for food. In 1946, 
at the age of 16, Felix started as a youth social worker at Rusk, in 
what would become his life's calling.
  The first in his family to graduate from high school and college, and 
later graduate school for social work, Felix went on to lead Ripley 
House for two decades as director from 1970 to 1990. I still remember 
walking into Ripley House in 1972, when I first arrived in Houston, a 
young social worker ready to save the world. I went there looking for a 
job--that's when I met Felix and we were friends ever since. We fought 
many battles together--hunger, homelessness, redistricting, poverty--
you name it, Felix was there.
  Felix was always a public servant, but he didn't seek out politics. 
In 1990, it was the public who chose him to be their champion, to be 
their voice. And champion them he did, Mr. Speaker. He would serve on 
the Houston Independent School District School Board and then on the 
Houston City Council, always fighting to uplift Latinos, and building 
for a better day.
  Mr. Speaker, Felix Fraga was a tireless champion for justice and a 
better life for all, and he never ceased to smile even through his 
final days.
  He put hope over hunger, care over cynicism, and people over 
politics.
  Our prayers are with his wife, Nelly, his brother, Tom; his sons, 
Carlos and Bolivar; and his bright grandchildren, Nicolas, Damian, and 
Amanda.
  Mr. Speaker, I ask my colleagues to join me in honoring the life and 
legacy of Felix Fraga.