[Congressional Record Volume 171, Number 122 (Wednesday, July 16, 2025)]
[House]
[Page H3321]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       HONORING DR. TED MITCHELL

  (Mr. Arrington of Texas was recognized to address the House for 5 
minutes.)
  Mr. ARRINGTON. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor Dr. Ted Mitchell, 
chancellor of the Texas Tech University System for 15 years of 
dedicated service to Red Raider Nation in the great State of Texas.
  I am honored to have worked with Chancellor Mitchell over the years 
and proud to call him and his wonderful wife, Janet, dear friends. 
Chancellor Mitchell successfully led Texas Tech University System to 
new levels of growth, discovery, and educational excellence during his 
term.
  I wish him the very best as he enters a new chapter of his life. We 
have a great team of regents chaired by my friend Cody Campbell. I am 
confident they will find the right leader, but they will have big shoes 
to fill, no doubt, with Chancellor Mitchell's departure.
  I congratulate Ted. On behalf of the people of west Texas, I thank 
him for bearing our banner far and wide and modeling what it means to 
be a true, fearless champion.
  God bless west Texas, and long live the Matadors.


                      Honoring Texas Flood Victims

  Mr. ARRINGTON. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the lives lost in 
the catastrophic floods that struck central Texas over the Fourth of 
July weekend.
  At least 134 lives have been taken, including 27 young girls and 
counselors at Camp Mystic in Kerr County. This is an unimaginable and 
heartbreaking loss for these families and for our great State.
  I also want to remember constituents from my district whose lives 
were lost. Tanya Burwick was the epitome of a hardworking West Texan. 
Wife to Robert, with four children and six grandchildren, she did it 
all while working for the past 10 years at the Walmart Neighborhood 
Market in San Angelo, Texas, out of commitment to her family and their 
future.
  Holly Frizzell was also a mother and grandmother. She was married for 
almost 40 years to her husband, Lane, who was diagnosed with dementia 
and ultimately passed away. You can imagine the hardships for her in 
the last years of her marriage to Lane, but she turned that tragedy and 
struggle into service, becoming a tireless advocate for dementia 
awareness.
  That is who she was, reflecting the very best of our country and 
certainly west Texas, and that is why it is a major loss to our 
community.

                              {time}  1020

  Robert Brake and Joni Brake--two people devoted to service, him an 
Air Force veteran, her a registered nurse--were celebrating the Fourth 
of July in a campground next to Hunt, Texas, when the flood overtook 
them. They leave behind three children, five grandchildren, and several 
great-grandchildren. They, too, will be missed.
  Mr. Speaker, Texans, as well as people throughout the country, are 
mourning this unimaginable tragedy. We should honor them by striving 
for the same sacrificial love and service that they so powerfully and 
beautifully demonstrated in their lives.
  I would say that Texans are tough for a lot of reasons, but mostly 
because we believe in the power of prayer and God's sovereignty and 
because we depend on Him for our comfort, confidence, and strength. I 
know Texans are appealing to the Father of compassion and God of all 
comfort to do what only He can do--what these words and any words could 
never do--which is provide the divine comfort, peace, and strength that 
these families need.
  I beseech my fellow Americans and my Members on both sides of the 
aisle, join us in prayer and asking God to do what only He can do to 
lift these families up, to keep them strong and together through this 
every step of the way.
  May God bless our great country. May God comfort these families. Go, 
west Texas.

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