[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 152 (2006), Part 11] [Extensions of Remarks] [Page 15431] [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]TRIBUTE TO MR. ALFREDO ZAMORA ______ HON. HENRY CUELLAR of texas in the house of representatives Thursday, July 20, 2006 Mr. CUELLAR. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor Mr. Alfredo Zamora, Jr., Chief Executive Officer of South Texas Rural Health Services, Inc., for his exemplary leadership in providing healthcare to those living in rural areas in South Texas. Alfredo Zamora, Jr. was born on June 19, 1941, to his Mexican- American migrant parents, Guadalupe Cantu and Alfredo Zamora. His family would travel to Wisconsin, and to the fields of Illinois to work the land there. After he graduated from Cotulla High School in 1961, he joined the United States Army, and received a honorable discharge in 1963, which allowed him to attend a teacher's college where he then continued his further education at Carthage College in Kenosha, Wisconsin, and he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in elementary education in 1968. He also received a fellowship in the Ford Foundation Leadership Development Program in 1969 that helped him learn how to become an effective leader in advocacy, community organizing, and political awareness. The leadership skills that Mr. Zamora learned was put to great use by becoming the first Mexican-American mayor of the City of Cotulla in the State of Texas. In 1972, Mr. Zamora was recruited to become Executive Director of SER-Jobs For Progress, an advocacy organization that helped represent Hispanics in Racine, Wisconsin. He also attended the University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee where he received his M.S. in Supervision and Administration, and extensive study work towards his Ph.D. in Urban Education during his tenure with SER-Jobs For Progress. In 1981, Mr. Zamora was hired as Chief Executive Officer of South Texas Rural Health Services, Inc., a community health center. He has successfully guided the organization from a singular site and a $250,000 operating budget to approximately $4.5 million worth of needed services to a multiple-county service area in South Texas. Mr. Zamora has spent his life working to help better the lives of those in his community, and I commend him for his commitment to South Texas and to improving rural healthcare services. Mr. Speaker, I am honored to have had this time to recognize the wonderful dedication and commitment of Alfredo Zamora, Jr. to advocacy in the areas of healthcare and education for the City of Cotulla and to the rural community of South Texas, and I thank you for this time. ____________________