[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 158 (2012), Part 9]
[House]
[Pages 11988-11989]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                  TRIBUTE TO KATHLEEN ``KATHI'' WILKES

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from 
Texas (Ms. Jackson Lee) for 5 minutes.
  Ms. JACKSON LEE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, these are tasks that we often 
do not find welcoming. I rise this morning to pay tribute to a public 
servant among us, someone who served in this House as a staff person, a 
chief of staff in my office. I rise this morning to pay tribute to 
Kathleen ``Kathi'' Wilkes, whose memorial service will be held this 
afternoon, July 24, 1:30 p.m., at the Alfred Street Baptist Church in 
Alexandria, Virginia.
  Kathi died suddenly last Saturday. The good news is that so many of 
her friends were able to fly in, as I was able to do from Houston, and 
to be with her in those waning hours. One can always ask the question 
why, and there is no explanation for someone so full of life, so ready 
to serve, so willing to help, to lose their life so suddenly, even as 
she was so active the week of her death.
  Kathi had a wonderful history of coming from Ohio, touching down in 
Pennsylvania, in Houston, and Washington, D.C. How often can what we 
call a ``civilian'' touch the lives of so many States and so many 
people? Kathi pulled herself up by her bootstraps, supported herself, 
and became a nurse. As she was so good at nursing as well, she 
continued to nurture people, maybe in the spirit of Florence 
Nightingale.
  That was not enough for Kathi. She continued to put herself through 
school and ultimately graduated and became a lawyer. That brought her 
to Houston, Texas, working for one of the major corporations there, but 
it brought her into my life so many years ago. There, she was a light 
as well, interested in helping and befriending not only my husband and 
myself, but my two little ones, Erica and Jason. Boy, did they have a 
buddy in Kathi Wilkes. She loved to do things that children much 
smaller and much younger than herself enjoyed. She was just a fun-
loving person. Then, of course, she traveled to places around the world 
embracing friends.
  As she came back to Washington, D.C., to become the chief of staff in 
the 18th Congressional District, what a light she was in the office, 
bringing in great talent and other young people who were nurtured, 
counseled by her, tutored, and made great. Then, of course, what a 
partner in legislation. She was there through the ups and downs of the 
1990s, through the impeachment proceedings, as I was a member of the 
House Judiciary Committee. Through all these tough times, Kathi was 
there.
  Then we were able to do something quite great, if I might say so 
myself. This House was built by slaves, the Capitol of the United 
States of America. But as we looked around a few years past, there were 
no statues of African Americans, less an African American woman. I 
passed legislation, along with then-Senator Clinton, to place a

[[Page 11989]]

statue of Sojourner Truth in this House. Sojourner Truth was a person 
who had been an abolitionist, a suffragette, a slave, a mother of 13 
children, who had seen most all of them sold into slavery.
  Kathi worked without ceasing to ensure that that statue was sculpted, 
that we had the opportunity to place it historically in the United 
States Congress, and it was honored with 2,000 people coming to see the 
placement of the Sojourner Truth statue having then-Secretary Hillary 
Clinton and First Lady Michelle Obama and, of course, the Speaker, 
Nancy Pelosi, present. What a wonderful day and occasion and tribute to 
the hard work of Kathi Wilkes.
  It is befitting that I rise today to express the deep pain that so 
many of us feel, friends from all around the world even, but certainly 
in this Nation. Friends, as I said from Ohio, to Pennsylvania, to 
Washington, D.C., to Texas, many of whom will be able to come today, 
others of whom will celebrate her in Houston and in Ohio. One may ask 
why she is deserving of such. In the backdrop of such terrible 
tragedies that have faced us in Aurora and places around the world, as 
we mourn the loss of so many in the occurrence of last Thursday, I 
stand here today to say that I know that if Kathi Wilkes were alive 
today, she would be somewhere trying to help, to nurture, to assist my 
office, to be of help, even as she is no longer a chief of staff, but 
really a former chief of staff.
  That is simply the way Kathi Wilkes is to her mother, her son, and, 
of course, her granddaughter and her many relatives and many friends. 
We have lost a good friend, but I can see her now taking wings.
  Farewell, my good friend. You have served well and made us proud. 
More importantly, you have given of yourself. May you rest in peace.

                          ____________________