[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 159 (2013), Part 7]
[House]
[Pages 9389-9390]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




               TRIBUTE TO HONORABLE RUDOLPH ``RUDY'' CLAY

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Illinois (Mr. Danny K. Davis) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. DANNY K. DAVIS of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, I rise to pay tribute to 
a man and a friend of mine who spent most of his adult life being 
actively engaged in the processes of social advocacy and public policy 
decisionmaking, and who ultimately became the mayor of Gary, Indiana, 
and a national progressive political leader.
  Rudy Clay was born in Alabama, and after the death of his mother was 
brought to Gary, Indiana, where he was raised by his two aunts, Ms. 
Lucy Hunter and Ms. Daisy Washington, who started him attending church, 
which he did for the rest of his life. He graduated from the Gary 
Roosevelt High School and attended the University of Indiana at 
Bloomington, married his wife, Ms. Christine Swan, was drafted into the 
Army, served his time, was honorably discharged, went into the 
insurance business, worked for Prudential and State Farm insurance 
companies, and ultimately opened his own company, the Rudolph Clay 
Insurance Agency, of which he was greatly proud.
  Rudy, like many people of his era, became actively involved in the 
civil rights movement of the sixties and seventies, which led him to 
electoral politics. He was elected to practically everything that one 
could be elected to in Lake County, Indiana, from precinct committeeman 
to mayor of Gary. In 1971, Rudy was elected to become the first African 
American State senator in the State of Indiana. In the Senate, he was 
the deciding vote that made it possible for an African American to be 
elected a Lake County commissioner. He was the first African American 
to be elected county recorder in the State of Indiana. He was county 
chairman of the Lake County Democratic Party. He

[[Page 9390]]

served as a Lake County commissioner. He was the chairman of the Gary 
precinct committeemen's organization, and mayor of his beloved city. 
And he played a key role in the Obama victory in Indiana in 2008.
  Rudy was a great family man, loved by his neighbors and friends, 
loved by the members of his church and all of those with whom he came 
into contact. He was loved by his associates in his lodge. The average 
person in Gary, Indiana, and any place around it knew Rudy Clay, and 
loved him for his great work.
  I convey condolences to his wife, Mrs. Christine Clay; his son, Rudy, 
Jr.; his brothers and sisters and other members of his family. When one 
sums up his presence on Earth, they can simply say of Rudy: a job well 
done, a life well lived.
  We salute you, Mayor Rudolph ``Rudy'' Clay. I thank you for being my 
friend. May your soul rest in peace.

                          ____________________