[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 163 (2017), Part 1]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 193]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                       IN TRIBUTE TO THELMA SIAS

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. GWEN MOORE

                              of wisconsin

                    in the house of representatives

                       Wednesday, January 4, 2017

  Ms. MOORE. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize Thelma Sias, Vice 
President of Local Affairs for WE Energies, who is retiring on January 
4, 2017. She has served the organization with distinction for over 31 
years, beginning in 1986.
  Thelma was born in rural Mayersville, Mississippi, growing up during 
the civil rights-era. Her father was a farmer. Her mother was a 
schoolteacher, farmer, and restauranteur. She is one of 11 children, 
all of whom graduated from college or technical college. Thelma Sias 
received an academic scholarship to Clark College in Atlanta where she 
ultimately received her degree. In 1976, Ms. Sias came to Wisconsin to 
work as the Supervisor of the Ethnic Heritage Recruitment Center for 
the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay, making the Badger State her new 
home.
  Ms. Sias spent most of her career making an extraordinary impact on 
people in Wisconsin by seeking common ground and finding solutions. 
Over the years, she has sat on at least a dozen boards, including the 
Zoological Society of Milwaukee, Children's Hospital and Health System 
Foundation, Milwaukee Public Library Foundation, and the Milwaukee Area 
Workforce Investment Board. Thelma was paid to do what naturally was a 
part of her core: making connections and fostering relationships. It is 
also why she has been such an asset to WE Energies in serving their 
interests in a manner that supports the communities dear to my heart. 
In her position, she was able to help establish connections between 
people in need and those who can help through the corporation's 
separate, nonprofit arm, Wisconsin Energy Foundation, which has 
invested $130 million into Wisconsin and Michigan communities since 
1982.
  Ms. Sias has a natural gift for connecting people, which she has to 
move the powerful to invest both financially and emotionally in 
economically distressed communities in a way that fosters sustainable 
solutions to problems. I am grateful to have had the opportunity to 
know and work with her for so many years. Thelma is political, but, 
more importantly, she is knowledgeable and she cares. She has remained 
an integral part of the community, maintaining her residence and 
remaining deeply committed to the Johnsons Park neighborhood community 
in central city Milwaukee. In addition to all her work with the 
Foundation and the community, she has found time to be a fixture in 
every presidential campaign from Carter to Obama. I join her friends 
and husband of over 30 years, Stephen Adams, in congratulating her on 
her well-earned retirement. I wish her much success as she transitions 
into a different phase of her life.
  Mr. Speaker, I am proud to honor Thelma Sias and I am proud to call 
her friend. The citizens of the Fourth Congressional District and the 
State of Wisconsin are privileged to have someone of her ability and 
dedicated service working on their behalf for so many years. Thelma, I 
thank you for all that you have done. I am honored for these reasons to 
pay tribute to Thelma Sias.

                          ____________________