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[Page H612]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
HONORING THE LIFE OF DIONNE PHILLIPS BAGSBY
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from
Texas (Mr. Veasey) for 5 minutes.
Mr. VEASEY. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the life of my dear
friend, Dionne Phillips Bagsby.
Dionne was a very strong leader in the Fort Worth community. She
served as a role model to so many people, including myself, and she
really was driven by her work to desegregate the Fort Worth schools
when she first came to Fort Worth. That really spurred her to run for
the county commissioner's seat in precinct one in 1988.
When she ran, she became the first woman and the first African
American to become a Tarrant County commissioner. She did a tremendous
job for Tarrant County and the city of Fort Worth.
Throughout her 16-year tenure, Dionne fought to improve public
education and increase access to health resources for women and
children. Her former precinct administrator, who is now the county
commissioner, Roy Charles Brooks, said it best when he said that Dionne
was not a politician, she was a public servant.
In 2005, I was proud to be a part of the Texas Legislature and honor
her for a lifetime of service.
Again, she was a mentor and mentored so many young women throughout
Fort Worth who sought to replicate her success. She helped them aspire
to careers that would challenge the norm. She always encouraged those
young women to never give up. Dionne broke barriers for the African
American community, for women, for the disadvantaged, for the disabled,
and for so many others, including myself.
Mr. Speaker, I will tell you and will be honest with you, if you ever
met Dionne, you will know that she was very much into straight talk.
She did not mince words, and she always cut right to the chase. But I
will also tell you, as I mentioned before, that Dionne was a tremendous
mentor.
When I was elected to the State Legislature in 2004, Dionne was the
first person to call me up, and we went and had lunch. When I got
married later, she called my wife and me up, and we went and had lunch
with her. When I came to Congress and was elected in 2012, she was one
of the first people to call me up, and she; Lorraine Miller, who was a
former Clerk of the House here; my wife; and I all went and had dinner.
She was more than happy to dispense good advice that was very, very
helpful to me.
Mr. Speaker, Dionne was also very instrumental in bringing a lot of
firsts to Fort Worth. I mentioned her work with the schools, her being
the first Black and first woman on the county commissioners court. But
her legacy still lives today through The Links. She was one of the
legacy members of The Links in Fort Worth. The Greater Fort Worth Area
Negro Business and Professional Women's Club, she got a national
charter for that venerable organization and had the first meeting in
her living room in southeast Fort Worth.
Mr. Speaker, if you ever went to any of Dionne's receptions while she
was still in office between that 1988 and 2005 time period, you will
know that one of the things that she liked to do was give shout-outs.
She gave shout-outs to everybody from people in her family to the
person who was her trainer.
I am going to give a shout-out to some of her family members and
special friends today--and everybody back home, please forgive me if I
have left out anyone--her daughter, Dionne Anne Jones; her son, Jimmy
Bagsby; her husband who preceded her in death who was also on the Fort
Worth City Council, Jim Bagsby; her grandchildren, Kirbe, Josiah,
Kelli, and Elijah; and her brother, Paul Phillips.
She had so many friends whom she would like to give shout-outs to,
including one who preceded her in death, Dr. Erma Johnson Hadley, her
dear friend; Norma Roby; Bob Sanders; Jesse Gaines; again, Lorraine
Miller; Gwendolyn Morrison; Viney Chandler; and, again, County
Commissioner Roy Charles Brooks, who was also someone Dionne mentored
and who was her precinct administrator before he became county
commissioner. He also was a very, very dear friend.
We lost a giant in Fort Worth by losing Dionne. She will be missed
because she was a friend to so many and always had so many colorful,
wonderful, and humorous things to say. But I can tell you that our city
is better off and our county is better off because Dionne Bagsby moved
to Fort Worth with her husband and helped make it a better place for
everybody.
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