[Congressional Record Volume 171, Number 121 (Tuesday, July 15, 2025)]
[House]
[Pages H3249-H3250]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




            HONORING THE LIFE AND LEGACY OF DR. OLGA KARMAN

  (Mr. Kennedy of New York was recognized to address the House for 5 
minutes.)
  Mr. KENNEDY of New York. Mr. Speaker, I rise today with both deep 
sorrow and immense gratitude to honor the extraordinary life and legacy 
of my dear friend, Dr. Olga Karman, who passed away last week after a 
courageous battle with leukemia.
  Dr. Karman was a poet, a professor, an immigrant, an activist, a 
mother, a grandmother, and a mentor.
  She profoundly shaped my life and the lives of countless others 
across the globe.
  Dr. Karman was born in 1940 in Havana, Cuba, where she graduated from 
the distinguished Ruston Academy in 1958 and attended Santo Tomas de 
Villanueva University.
  By 1960, she left Cuba, immigrating to the United States for a better 
life.
  After settling in rural Connecticut, she resumed her education at 
Connecticut College, graduating in 1966 summa cum laude and Phi Beta 
Kappa.
  Powered by her fierce intellect and passion, she received a Woodrow 
Wilson Fellowship to study at Harvard University, earning her a Ph.D. 
in Latin American literature in 1976.
  Later that same year, Dr. Karman arrived in Buffalo, where she would 
spend the rest of her life enriching the city's cultural, academic, and 
civic fabric. She taught Spanish at Nichols School, and in 1980, she 
joined the faculty of D'Youville University, my alma mater, where she 
spent the next 27 years teaching generations of students.
  At D'Youville, Dr. Karman taught Spanish and helped to establish the 
D'Youville-Da Vinci High School partnership. Her impact as an educator 
was immeasurable. I was one of the many students lucky enough to sit in 
her classroom.
  In 1997, I participated in the study abroad trip to Panama with Dr. 
Karman. As we visited the rainforest and met with the people of the 
region, she turned to me and out of the blue asked me: ``Have you ever 
thought about getting involved in politics?'' I said: ``I think about 
it every day, but I don't know how.''
  She gave me a one-word answer that changed my life forever: 
``volunteer.'' That moment was a true turning point for me and led me 
to where I am today.
  That story, so simple yet so profound, speaks to who she was: a woman 
who saw people clearly and believed in them completely.
  She believed that politics is personal, that poetry can be protest, 
and that identity is not a limitation but a calling. Her own life was 
proof.
  As a lifelong author, Olga's work was widely published and deeply 
personal. Her memoir, ``Scatter My Ashes Over Havana,'' captured the 
pain of her exile and the complexity of her return to Cuba. Her poems 
appeared in The Nation, The New Republic, The Buffalo News, and even on 
public artwork throughout Buffalo's West Side where she lived and wrote 
until her final days.
  Dr. Karman's commitment to service extended far beyond the classroom 
or the written word. She was relentless in her advocacy for our 
community and for people. She served on the Governor's Advisory 
Committee for Hispanic Affairs. She was a founding member of western 
New York's Hispanics and Friends and helped shape Hispanics United of 
Buffalo.
  She spent her later years as a certified interpreter for the board of 
parole, all while continuing to write poems and short works.
  We lost Dr. Olga Karman last week on July 9. She passed away just as 
she lived: surrounded by family. She is survived by her children, Carla 
and Nathaniel, and her lifelong companion and twin brother, Roberto 
Karman.
  Olga's greatest joy in life was being a grandmother to Gregory, 
Woodrow, Nicholas, William, Hugh, and Mika; and a proud great-
grandmother to Ayla, Penelope, Avery, and Lincoln.
  She leaves behind a grateful community and countless friends, too 
many to name, but just to name a few: Michelle Swygert-Seay, Raul and 
Geno Russi, Mayor Tony Masiello, Judge Raul Figueroa, Assemblyman Sam 
Hoyt, and of course, her entire D'Youville University family.
  Our Nation is a better place because of Dr. Olga Karman. I am forever 
grateful that our paths crossed. We honor

[[Page H3250]]

Dr. Olga Karman's legacy today knowing that her spirit lives on through 
her writings and the lives she touched, including my own.
  Dr. Olga Karman will be deeply missed. May she rest in peace.
  ``Thank you very much, my good friend. We love you'';
  ``Muchas gracias mi buena amiga. Te queremos.''

                          ____________________