[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 158 (2012), Part 10]
[House]
[Page 14501]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                        REMEMBERING RICKY WRIGHT

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Texas (Mr. Conaway) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. CONAWAY. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize a good and decent 
man, a loyal servant of Texas and my friend, Ricky Wright. Ricky Wright 
passed away Wednesday, August 1, after a tremendous battle with cancer. 
Words cannot adequately express the sorrow and disbelief that Susan and 
I feel, along with every member of our team, at these difficult times.
  I met Ricky when I first started running for Congress, and since that 
time, Ricky has been at my side as a mentor, confidant, and a close 
friend. While Ricky was employed as my district director, he served the 
people of District 11.
  This service to his neighbors was a task he lived every day. Ricky 
routinely logged hundreds of miles a week, drove to every corner of 
District 11. Through his work, he touched the lives of thousands of 
Texans. There was no problem in our district that was too small for his 
attention or too big for his talents.
  During these travels, Ricky never once met a stranger. With his easy 
smile and open demeanor, Ricky would make everyone feel like they'd 
been his friend for a lifetime. But during all these travels and 
meetings, too many to count, he never forgot that his home was 
Comanche, Texas.
  Comanche is ever much a part of Ricky as his fingers and his toes. It 
was the community he was raised in, the community that taught him the 
character and morals that would guide his life. Perhaps that is also 
where he inherited his stubborn streak. Ricky had a confidence in the 
possibilities that could be, in spite of the limited vision of those 
around him. You could see this in him every day as he quietly refused 
to yield to mediocrity or to compromise his principles.
  It was his stubbornness that set Ricky apart from the crowd, and 
that's where I believe he was most comfortable, just a little further 
up the path, showing the rest of us the way. Today, Ricky is still just 
a little further up the path showing us the way as he showed us how he 
carried himself in the face of those deep difficulties toward the end 
of his life.
  We'll remember Ricky as he would want to be remembered, a faithful 
friend, a tireless worker whose hopeful, idealistic, daring, and decent 
way of life inspired us all. To those of us who knew him and worked 
with him, he was like family, and his loss will be felt every time we 
gather together without him. He'll never be replaced or forgotten, and 
I ask you for your prayers for Ricky and his family and those of us who 
loved him.
  I miss my friend.

                          ____________________