A MEMORIAL

HONORING THE LIFE AND RECOGNIZING THE ACCOMPLISHMENTS OF FORMER REPRESENTATIVE E. KELLY MORA.

     WHEREAS, E. Kelly Mora, a senior statesman and former member of the house of representatives, personified the work ethic, compassion and determination of his native New Mexico; and

     WHEREAS, Kelly began working in the coal mines of New Mexico at the age of eighteen years, an occupation that was interrupted only by service to his country in the armed forces and by a life-threatening coal mine accident in 1948; and

     WHEREAS, Kelly was drafted into the United States army and served during World War II in Okinawa, Japan, where he was wounded in 1944 and received the Purple Heart; and

     WHEREAS, Kelly, who served as the treasurer of the united mine workers of America, spent his free time working to improve the lives of former coal miners by securing their pensions; and

     WHEREAS, Kelly served as a Colfax county commissioner from 1959 through 1962 and served in the New Mexico house of representatives for several terms, from 1963 to 1964, from 1967 to 1970 and from 1977 to 1992; and

     WHEREAS, during his tenure in the house, Kelly chaired the natural resources committee and its successor, the energy and natural resources committee, and worked tirelessly to improve roads in his northeastern New Mexico district and to support the mining industry and the employment it provided his constituents; and

     WHEREAS, E. Kelly Mora was considered by all who knew him to be a real gentleman and to be one who always knew when to close debate; and

     WHEREAS, E. Kelly Mora died on January 6, 2005 at the age of eighty-five years, and is survived by his wife of more than six decades, Livia, with whom he raised four children; and

     WHEREAS, E. Kelly Mora will be missed by his family, his friends and all New Mexicans who knew and loved him;

     NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO that E. Kelly Mora, be remembered as a statesman and as a New Mexican.