Elijah Cummings: “I rise to remember and honor a teacher and mentor and a friend, a dedicated husband and father from my hometown of…”

“I rise to remember and honor a teacher and mentor and a friend, a dedicated husband and father from my hometown of Baltimore who rose from modest beginnings to lift up the people of his community and the State of Maryland. Howard Peters Rawlings spent his earliest years in Baltimore's Poe Homes public housing project. However, when he finally succumbed to cancer on November 14 of this year, he had become one of the most influential and well-respected leaders of the great State of Maryland. Pete Rawlings' life exemplified the character and integrity that all Americans should seek to achieve in their own lives. That, Mr. Speaker, is why I ask that we pause in the work of this great House to reflect upon the character of this truly great man. Despite the daily hardships of their lives, Pete Rawlings' parents, Howard Toussant and Beatrice Peters Rawlings, instilled in him the core values for which I rise to honor him today. Pete was born during the Great Depression, an age when few Americans expected a lifetime of exemplary achievement from any young African American. The young Howard Rawlings was not deterred, however. As a matter of fact, he was determined to be excellent at everything he did, and he was successful at that.”