Maxwell Frost: “I rise today in honor of my friend and colleague, the late Henry B. Gonzalez. I remember the day in January of 1979…”

“I rise today in honor of my friend and colleague, the late Henry B. Gonzalez. I remember the day in January of 1979 that, as a new freshman Congressman from Dallas, I walked across the floor of the House and first introduced myself to Henry B. Gonzalez. I, of course, knew who he was and what he had stood for; but I am not sure he knew anything about me. I mentioned to Congressman Gonzalez that my father was from San Antonio, that I had a lot of family in his district; and I said something about my 88-year-old grandmother, Pearl Frost, living in San Antonio. His eyes brightened, and he replied that of course he knew my grandmother. Well, after all, he knew everybody in San Antonio. From that moment on, Henry B. took a special interest in my career. He was very kind and very helpful as I started learning how to be a Congressman. For 20 years, I had the chance to observe Henry B. up close. Several things struck me during that time. First, he was always true to his core beliefs. He never varied from his support for the downtrodden and in his support for equal justice for all people, regardless of race, color, or creed. Some Members of Congress will follow a zigzag path in their voting pattern from time to time, casting a conservative vote here and there so that opponents cannot call them a liberal in the next election. Henry B. never worried about that kind of thing. He was always on the side of the people, no matter what the issue. He did not try to trim his sails.”