[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 149 (2003), Part 18]
[House]
[Page 25309]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                   REMEMBERING GOVERNOR PRESTON SMITH

  (Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas asked and was given permission to address 
the House for 1 minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute 
and salute one of our fallen heroes in Texas, Governor Preston Smith, 
who lived a life of service from the 1940s into the 1950s when he 
served the State as Governor. I want to emphasize his commitment to 
education, as we battle in this House on the issue of Leave No Child 
Behind, as we find out that many of our educational leaders across the 
Nation are looking to us to give them and to provide them with a 
partnership to educate the Nation's children. I believe that his work 
in education helped the State of Texas reach its mission, or attempt to 
reach its mission, of lifting all boats.
  One of the issues that he championed was the idea of teacher 
compensation and to ensure that the teachers in our classrooms were 
paid a respectable salary so they in fact could teach our children.
  He loved the State and he served in the State senate. He was 
certainly someone who this State will miss because he loved us as we 
loved him. We say to his family our deepest sympathy; but more 
importantly, we are gratified for the opportunity he had to serve. And 
when he served, he promoted the people who needed him most, and those 
are the people whose voices could not be heard.
  Mr. Speaker, we thank him for his service and know that his spirit 
will remain because he was truly a tall Texan, as he worked for all of 
us during the time he served the State of Texas; and we know that he 
will be considered a great Texan and a great American.

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