[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 152 (2006), Part 4]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages 5701-5702]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




        IN HONOR AND REMEMBRANCE OF REVEREND RALPH EMERSON LEACH

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. DENNIS J. KUCINICH

                                of ohio

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, April 5, 2006

  Mr. KUCINICH. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in honor and recognition of 
Reverend Ralph Emerson Leach, devoted husband, father, grandfather, 
United States Veteran, prolific journalist, spiritual leader, social 
activist, and friend and mentor to countless people, across the 
southwest and far beyond.
  Reverend Leach was born and raised in Massachusetts. He attended the 
University of Texas School of Journalism until WWII interrupted his 
studies. In 1943, he joined the U.S. Army and was stationed in the 
Yunnan Province of China. After 3 years of decorated service, he was 
honorably discharged. In 1947, Reverend Leach and his wife, Gloria, 
were married. He began his editorial and reporting career, working at a 
series of newspapers throughout Texas and Arkansas. As News Editor of 
the Arkansas Gazette in the mid-50s, Reverend Leach was a frontrunner 
in exposing the injustice of racism by working on a series of articles 
that highlighted the historic Central High School integration crisis. 
The Gazette was later awarded the Pulitzer Prize for its coverage of 
this benchmark event in the civil rights movement.
  Personally moved by the racial intolerance that he witnessed overseas 
and at home, Reverend Leach ended his career in journalism

[[Page 5702]]

and began building a spiritual ministry that existed to raise the poor 
and struggling out of the shadows of poverty and hopelessness, and to 
free the soul of our Nation from the chains of human injustice. He 
graduated with a Master of Divinity degree from the Episcopal Seminary 
of the Southwest, was ordained into the Episcopal ministry, and became 
firmly entrenched in the civil rights movement. Reverend Leach's work 
led him to collaborate with our Nation's foremost heroes in the civil 
rights crusade, including the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. Reverend 
Leach also served as the Manpower Director with Total Action Against 
Poverty (TAP). Even in his later years, Reverend Leach's dedication as 
a grassroots activist was as energized and focused as ever, and is 
reflected in his contribution and leadership within grassroots 
political campaigns, including my own.
  Mr. Speaker and colleagues, please join me in honor, remembrance and 
gratitude to Reverend Ralph Emerson Leach, whose life was defined by 
his steadfast commitment to his family and by his limitless passion to 
make his community, our Nation and our world, a better place. I extend 
my deepest condolences to his daughters and their spouses: Laura and 
Don, Rebecca and William, Naomi and Paul; to his son and his fiancee, 
Stephen and Sally; to his grandchildren, extended family members and 
many friends. His kindness, integrity, gentle guidance and service to 
others has made a difference in my life and in the lives of countless 
families and individuals, and he will be remembered always.

                          ____________________