RECOGNIZING DEBORAH WRIGLEY AND HER CONTRIBUTIONS TO AMERICA AND THE HOUSTON METROPOLITAN AREA OVER FOUR DECADES AS A LEADING AND INFLUENTIAL JOURNALIST FOR TELEVISION STATION KTRK; Congressional Record Vol. 166, No. 153
(Extensions of Remarks - September 04, 2020)
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[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E818]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
RECOGNIZING DEBORAH WRIGLEY AND HER CONTRIBUTIONS TO AMERICA AND THE
HOUSTON METROPOLITAN AREA OVER FOUR DECADES AS A LEADING AND
INFLUENTIAL JOURNALIST FOR TELEVISION STATION KTRK
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HON. SHEILA JACKSON LEE
of texas
in the house of representatives
Friday, September 4, 2020
Ms. JACKSON LEE. Madam Speaker, I rise to honor Deborah Wrigley for
the unparalleled service she has rendered to the residents of the
Houston metropolitan area over the past 40 years as one of the area's
leading journalists and to commend her example to young reporters on
the fiduciary responsibility of all members of the Fourth Estate to
understand and faithfully execute the responsibilities of civic
education and governmental accountability reposed in them by the
drafters of the First Amendment.
Deborah Wrigley will be retiring this month after the completion of a
42-year career in journalism, most recently with television station
KTRK-TV.
Deborah Wrigley graduated from the University of Houston with a
degree from its prestigious English department initially did not plan a
career in television but it is not surprising that she finally did
given that her father was a leading Hollywood cinematographer and her
mother loved literature.
Deborah Wrigley was hired by KTRK-TV as a minority trainee in 1978
and over the next 42 years reported on important events affecting or
occurring in the Houston area as the city grew to become the largest
city in Texas and the fourth largest in the nation.
Deborah Wrigley reported live from Galveston, Texas throughout the
night when Hurricane Alicia hit, risking driving off the Galveston
seawall at the height of the storm to get the stories back to the
station.
Deborah Wrigley loved covering politics, from City Hall to the Texas
Legislature, national stories and neighborhood issues, hurricanes and
other natural disasters, including the Mexico City earthquake in 1985
for which she received a Headliner Club award.
Deborah Wrigley never forgot or lost sight of the fact that another
important role of the print and electronic media is to serve the
people, to illuminate their struggles and problems and achievements;
she knows Houston because she always listened to its people and their
concerns and tirelessly worked to bring attention to the need to find
solutions.
Deborah Wrigley's final stories involved the work on the frontlines
of fighting the COVID-19 pandemic, such as efforts to bring testing to
underserved communities, which she understood would save thousands of
lives.
Not only was Deborah Wrigley an eye-witness to many historic events,
she made history of her own by becoming the longest-serving female
television news reporter ever in Houston and one of the longest serving
in the history of the country.
Deborah Wrigley has often expressed how grateful she is to those who
helped her through it all, from the people she interviewed to the
audiences who watched and trusted her to deliver the news fairly and
accurately.
Madam Speaker, I take great pride in recognizing and honoring Deborah
Wrigley whose extraordinary career and commitment to serving her
community through delivering the news fully and fairly has helped make
our nation better on its inexorable march toward becoming a more
perfect union.
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