http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/national/AP-Gonzalez-Funeral.html
December 2, 2000 Thousands Honor Late Congressman By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Filed at 5:51 p.m. ET
SAN ANTONIO (AP) -- Hundreds of politicians and supporters, some in suits and others in jeans, filed into a cathedral Saturday to mourn former Rep. Henry Gonzalez, who spent 37 years in Congress as a champion of the underdog.
Mourners applauded one last time as pallbearers bore his coffin into the downtown San Fernando Cathedral. A military color guard stood watch as hundreds filed past the open casket throughout the morning.
``I just can't ever remember a time when Henry B. wasn't around,'' said mourner Katie Otten.
Gonzalez, the former chairman of the House Banking Committee who retired in 1998, died Tuesday at the age of 84 after a long illness.
``So many hearts were touched. So many dreams were forged because of Henry Gonzalez,'' said Henry Cisneros, a former San Antonio mayor who served as housing secretary in the Clinton administration.
``He loved the battle and he relished the victories but he also knew there was also always more to be done,'' said U.S. Rep. Patrick Kennedy, D-R.I.
Saturday's requiem Mass, held in the cathedral where Gonzalez was baptized, reflected his humble beginnings and the Mexican-American community that nurtured him. The liturgy was said in English and Spanish, and a mariachi choir performed.
Gonzalez was born in 1916 to Mexican immigrants but got a law degree, won a seat on the city council and later became the first Mexican-American elected to the Texas Senate. He was elected to Congress in 1961.
The unabashed populist was popular in San Antonio for his fights for affordable housing and as a defender of the downtrodden.
As banking chairman, he was credited with crafting tough savings-and-loan bailout legislation and helping expose the industry's 1980s excesses. He opened investigations that led to the resignation of the government's chief thrift regulator and the conviction of S&L owner Charles Keating.
Gonzalez also probed the Reagan and Bush administrations' friendly dealings with Iraq before the Gulf War. He unearthed evidence that U.S. agricultural credits and illegal loans were used to help Saddam Hussein build his war machine before the 1990 invasion of Kuwait.
After he decided not to seek re-election, his son Charlie defeated six other candidates for the Democratic nomination for his father's seat and then won the 1998 general election. He was re-elected last month without opposition. [end]