When I was a young boy, I spent many the afternoons at a nursing home where my mother, a nurse, cared for a woman named Minnie Watts.
Then in her 90s, Minnie spent hours playing dominoes with me and to this day, I remember how she would want to keep playing if I won, but was ready to move on to other pursuits if she’d beaten me first. She read aloud, often verses from the Bible, and I would push her wheelchair and bring her food. In a way, my brother and I grew up at Morningside Manor, the nursing home where Minnie lived.
Watching my mother, Susie Villarreal, care for Minnie and serve as her companion in her final years taught me and my brother the value of caring for others. I believe it was among the experiences that guided my brother to follow my mother’s footsteps and become a nurse. I trace my commitment to public service to these childhood experiences.
As a society, we need to have the strength to take care of each other, particularly our neighbors in need. Caring for the needy has been a tenant in our country’s political heritage. John F. Kennedy captured our social and moral obligation when he said, "If a free society cannot help the many who are poor, it cannot save the few who are rich."