[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 162 (2016), Part 10]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 14187]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                   HONORING MRS. HILDA GIRTMAN PITTS

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. ALCEE L. HASTINGS

                               of florida

                    in the house of representatives

                       Monday, November 14, 2016

  Mr. HASTINGS. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor Mrs. Hilda Girtman 
Pitts, a lifelong resident of Boynton Beach, Florida, who passed at the 
age of 102 on August 20, 2016. Born in 1913, Mrs. Pitts spent her 
childhood on 2.5 acres of farmland off the Federal Highway near Boynton 
Beach.
  At the age of 21, she married Soloman Pitts at the St. Paul A.M.E. 
Church in the city of Boynton Beach, and built their first home on 12th 
Avenue in-town. After many years of marriage, Mrs. Pitts had eight 
children, nine grandchildren, as well as many great-grandchildren and 
great-great grandchildren. Mrs. Pitts became a ``Gold Star Mother'' 
when her son, Cleveland Pitts, made the ultimate sacrifice in the 
Vietnam War.
  Mrs. Pitts was also an entrepreneur. She opened an antique store, 
known as ``Mrs. Hilda's,'' which sold American-made, handcrafted 
furniture and home goods. The antique store stands to this day on East 
Ocean Avenue in Boynton Beach as a memorial to Mrs. Pitts' legacy.
  Throughout her life, Mrs. Pitts has been a very religious woman and 
was heavily involved in the church community in Boynton Beach. She 
attended the African Methodist Episcopal Church from an early age. She 
followed her children to the New Christian Life Church in 1984, where 
she became a dynamic and regular churchgoer.
  Mr. Speaker, Mrs. Hilda Girtman Pitts will be remembered through her 
family, her friends, and all the many people she touched in her 102 
years of life. She was truly a shining star of the Boynton Beach 
community. I am so pleased to honor her life and legacy. She will be 
dearly missed.

                          ____________________