[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 157 (2011), Part 15]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages 21304-21305]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                   TRIBUTE TO JANICE ``TEKO'' WISEMAN

                                 ______
                                 

                             HON. JO BONNER

                               of alabama

                    in the house of representatives

                       Friday, December 16, 2011

  Mr. BONNER. Mr. Speaker, I rise to offer this tribute to Janice 
``Teko'' Wiseman, a native of Mobile, AL, who recently passed away at 
the age of 83. She spent her life in active service to her community 
and her family.
  Married for 62 years, Teko and her husband, Dr. Hollis Wiseman, 
originally met as high school sweethearts.
  During the 1960's--a decade of turmoil in Alabama--Teko and Hollis 
set an example of courage and commitment to justice and the city they 
loved by founding ABLE (Alabamians Behind Local Education), an 
organization to help peacefully integrate the Mobile County schools. 
Although opposed by some political leaders at the time, the Wisemans 
stood fast and eventually saw their goals realized. Their efforts 
received international attention on a Voice of America broadcast.
  In 1983, Teko helped found Keep Mobile Beautiful and worked as its 
coordinator for ten years. Her energy and creativity resulted in a 
beautification competition called No More Eyesore, which engaged 
residents from schoolchildren to bank presidents to clean up and 
beautify the ugliest eyesores around town. Other projects included 
planting the intersection of I-65 and I-10 and landscaping the entrance 
to Bankhead Tunnel. Her impact on the city is visible to this day.
  When they retired twenty years ago, Teko and Hollis moved to 
Fairhope, Alabama. There, Hollis, who had built the University of South 
Alabama Neonatal Intensive Care Unit named in his honor, became 
president of the Fairhope Library Board and spearheaded the drive to 
raise approximately seven million dollars to build the current state of 
the art library.
  Meanwhile, Teko Wiseman turned her attention to the lack of sidewalks 
along the Bay and

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conceived a project to building a hike/bike trail beginning at the 
Battleship on the Causeway and extending along the Eastern Shore to 
Weeks Bay. The organization she founded in 1995 to realize this dream, 
the Eastern Shore Trailblazers, has raised over $6.5 million through 
private donations and grants. The 32 mile trail is only two miles short 
of completion.
  Mr. Speaker, Teko was a treasure to South Alabama and her loss is one 
that is shared by our entire community.
  I offer my heartfelt condolences to her husband, Hollis; her sister, 
Merrellyn Miller; their six children, Holly Wiseman, Merrell Wiseman, 
Valery De Laney, Carole Norden, Jay Wiseman, and David Wiseman; and 
their six grandchildren and many friends. You are all in our thoughts 
and prayers.

                          ____________________