[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 18]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages 24497-24498]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




 TRIBUTE TO JESUS GONZALES, RECIPIENT OF THE 2009 ST. MADELEINE SOPHIE 
                      AWARD, SACRED HEART SCHOOLS

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. ANNA G. ESHOO

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                       Wednesday, October 7, 2009

  Ms. ESHOO. Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor Mr. Jesus Gonzales, a 
recipient of the prestigious St. Madeleine Sophie Award from Sacred 
Heart Schools. Established in the year 2000, the St. Madeleine Sophie 
Award honors individuals in the Sacred Heart community who have made a 
sustained and significant contribution to the Schools and embody the 
Goals and Criteria of a Sacred Heart education. The individuals honored 
are selected by a committee comprised of the senior administrative team 
in conjunction with the Chair of the Board of Trustees and are honored 
at a reception and at the Mass of the Holy Spirit, the first all-school 
liturgy of the school year. The recipients will be VIP guests at 
various SHS events throughout the year and featured in their alumni 
magazine, The Heart of the Matter, for their commitment to the mission 
of Sacred Heart education.
  This year, Jesus Gonzales was chosen, along with two other 
distinguished recipients, to be recognized with the Award for his 
tireless work and commitment to the Sacred Heart School as the Physical 
Plant Manager. His award was presented by Mr. Dan Greenleaf, who gave 
this speech at the Awards Ceremony in tribute to Jesus:

       Jesus Gonzales is a lover. What I mean here is his heart is 
     full of love.
       He shares that love everyday with the students, faculty, 
     staff, administration and parents at Sacred Heart Schools.
       Which is not always easy. But he gives this love. And he 
     gets love in return.
       He shares this love everyday of his life with his brothers 
     and sisters, nieces and nephews and friends.
       He has a lot of love to give and he gets lots in return. 
     Which is no surprise to me because I knew his father Gabriel.
       Gabriel didn't speak English and I don't speak Spanish but 
     we still knew each other well.
       Gabriel raised 8 wonderful kids into happy productive 
     adults while he was working here at Sacred Heart.
       The family is: Theresa, Gabriel Jr., Vidal, Valentine, 
     Jesus, Urlinda, Maria and Tony.
       This is a very close family who hold on tightly to their 
     heritage while raising their own families here in the melting 
     pot of the Bay Area.
       They see each other every day. They share meals, they 
     vacation together, they hang out on the porch doing nothing 
     together, they have strong relationships with each others 
     children. They give love to each other and they get love from 
     each other.
       I tell you this because the family is so much of who Jesus 
     is.
       Jesus first stepped on the Sacred Heart campus in 1981, 
     when he was 5 years old. One of Jesus' oldest memories on the 
     campus was Sr. Mesa's chickens and rabbits down by the shop.
       Sr. Mesa would sell the rabbits for $1 each, dead or alive. 
     They tasted like chicken. At that time, there was: no 
     McGanney Gym, no Montessori, no Spieker Pavilion, no 
     Apartments, no football field/field house.
       Sr. Lawrence had warm cookies in the Main Building and 
     Jesus had a great place to grow up.
       His 14th summer, 1989, was his first summer working for 
     Sacred Heart. He painted speed bumps and dug irrigation 
     trenches.
       Always a big smile on his face and usually a wise crack to 
     go with it to try and deflect me from seeing how sore he was 
     from swinging the pick.
       In high school he worked in the Gator Pit where he would 
     flash those green eyes and talk with all of the high school 
     girls because, well, heck, he was in high school too.
       In 1997 he was hired full time in the Maintenance 
     Department.
       Two years later he was put in charge of St. Joseph's and 
     the Montessori School and his job changed from actually 
     physically hands on working, to management and dealing with 
     the administration, faculty, coaches, parents and neighbors. 
     He was in his element, this was his strength. He was happier 
     than a pig wallowing in slop. He did well.
       In 2003 he was promoted to ``Physical Plant Manager'' in 
     charge of all of the buildings on the campus. There are many 
     decisions made by the Board and the Operations Department and 
     they get handed down to Jesus and his crew.
       They might have a list of 25 things to do. They do 10 of 
     them and check the list again and it's up to 30 things to do. 
     It never ends.
       Jesus gets to deal with everyone on campus by e-mail, phone 
     and face-to-face. That starts with his crew of about 20 
     maintenance and housekeeping personnel. They are the front 
     lines. They are the men and women in the trenches. They are 
     the people we all depend on but might not realize it.
       Jesus is very fair with his crew. He is consistent in 
     dealing with 20 personalities. He evaluates, makes changes 
     and implements these changes fairly across the board. He can 
     be stern and honest when he needs to be, but he talks to them 
     the same way he would expect someone to talk to him.
       Most of his conversations are peppered with humor. He 
     listens, I mean really listens and makes informed decisions. 
     He is not above his crew.
       Then he deals with everyone else: administrators, teachers, 
     parents, vendors, police department, fire department, city 
     hall, contractors.
       There is nobody that he doesn't approach with a smile and 
     an open mind. He is patient. He is organized, and he will 
     give you all his time to get you what you need.
       In the big picture he knows why he's here. I've heard him 
     say it before, ``We are here for the kids.'' It is that easy. 
     You give love, you get love, ``We are here for the kids.''
       He is who his father and family and maybe even a little bit 
     of Sacred Heart raised him to be.
       A child of the Sacred Heart.
       But still after all of this, there is still one person who 
     remains the center of his life. Someone who goes for camping, 
     fishing, bowling and makes him laugh. Someone who helps him 
     get ready for work in the morning.
       That most special someone in his life is his son Vidal who 
     is now 8 years old and who gets to grow up in the loving glow 
     of his father and the whole Gonzales family.

  Madam Speaker, I ask the entire House of Representatives to join me 
in offering our congratulations to Jesus Gonzales on the very

[[Page 24498]]

special occasion of being chosen for the St. Madeleine Sophie Award and 
for all he does daily to strengthen our community and our country.

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